Roy Hodgson will add Carl Jenkinson to his squad once FIFA clearance is received

By Nicholas Veevers

Roy Hodgson has revealed that he plans to add Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson to his England squad for next week's match with Sweden.

The England Manager is waiting for FIFA clearance to arrive before naming the 20-year-old in his group for the trip to Stockholm, due to the former Charlton Athletic player's appearances for Finland at Under-21 and U19 level. Prior to that, he had played for England at U17 level.

But Hodgson explained to FATV that the player himself has now expressed his commitment to England, after training with the squad last month and will be added to the squad in due course.

He said: "The reason I didn't include Carl from the start is because we haven't, at this moment in time, got clearance from FIFA but we do believe that they are going to grant that clearance within a day or two.

“So by next Wednesday, he will be clear to play. He wants to play for England and has made that clear so we applied for permission to FIFA, as one is allowed to do, immediately after he left us and before we set off for Poland.

"That was a month ago, but I didn't want to put his name down in a squad until such time as I've got FIFA clearance saying he's available to play for us in my hand.

"If the clearance comes through, we will put him in the squad. He was with us for training just before we left for Poland and I made it clear to him then that if he did want to play for England, I would include him in this squad and I intend to keep that promise."

Watch the full interview with Hodgson and his thinking behind the latest squad below or via the link to the right.