Gareth Southgate says the absences of Mason Greenwood and Harvey Barnes from his squad for England's November internationals are testament to the depth of talent the country now has.
Greenwood and Barnes made their senior debuts in September and October respectively, but have not made the cut for the upcoming games against the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and Iceland.
Despite naming a 29-man squad, Southgate could not find room for the two forwards due to the sheer level of competition for places in attacking positions
The Three Lions boss told the media – which included representatives from the Black Collective of Media in Sport – on Thursday: “It’s always the conundrum, because you are trying to match people’s performances in different games and different tactical setups with their clubs against different levels of opposition.
"Mason had had less game time with [Manchester] United – I've had a good chat with Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] about his development and I feel it's best for him to stay with the club at the moment and develop over the next few months.
"It’s always the hardest part selecting your squad and then your team. Obviously Raheem [Sterling] and Marcus [Rashford] have been in those attacking wide areas for the last 18 months or so in our bigger games, and with the likes of [Jadon] Sancho, [Jack] Grealish, [Mason] Mount [and Phil] Foden there's a lot of talent in that area of the pitch.
"There's real strength in depth, and it's one of those areas where we have got a lot of very good players."
Among the 29 players who have made Southgate's selection is Phil Foden. The Manchester City man has been recalled to the squad following his debut against Iceland in September and is in fine form for his club, having scored three goals in eleven appearances and become increasingly influential for Pep Guardiola's side.
"Phil has had quite a lot of football for his club quite recently and has a lot of talent," Southgate affirmed.
The same can be said for Chelsea right-back Reece James. Despite being unavailable in the two upcoming Nations League games due to his late sending-off against Denmark in October, Southgate did not have any doubts in keeping the 20-year-old in his squad for next Wednesday's friendly against Ireland.
"I think Reece’s game is at a very high level," said the manager. "We were very very impressed with the way he trained every day, with the way he took his opportunity as a sub (in last month's win over Belgium) and then with his performance against Denmark – I thought he was arguably our best player.
"We wanted to keep him with us. He has, of course, got to learn that what happened at the end of that Denmark game is not acceptable and has now cost him the opportunity to play in some of the qualifiers for us, but we were very, very impressed with his club form and we think we to be able to involve him in the game against Ireland is something we wanted to do."
As Southgate assembles his squad together for the final time in a disrupted year, he will have high aspirations to ensure that 2020 is finished on a high and set up 2021 to start in the best possible fashion.
"We've got some very good games to look forward to," the manager insisted.
"Once again while we, as a nation, are heading towards a difficult time, we are privileged to be playing football and recognise how fortunate we are to be doing that.
"I think in football generally everybody has recognised the opportunity to be able to provide entertainment to people, to show some signs that something close to normality can take place and to give hope to people, really."
