Aston Villa captain Tyrone Mings offered several kind words to Conor Gallagher after the on-loan Chelsea talent made his senior England debut last night.
Speaking to BBC Sport following the Three Lions 10-0 mauling of San Marino, Mings made a point of praising Gallagher’s call-up to the first team.
The midfielder came on at half-time yesterday, having been recently added to the camp by Gareth Southgate.
He was joined by fellow high-flying youngster Emile Smith Rowe, who also earned a promotion from England’s Under-21 side.
Going up in the world
Arsenal’s Smith Rowe broke his duct under Southgate against Albania last Friday, followed closely by Gallagher on Monday evening.
“The two lads you’ve mentioned there have had kind of unbelievable starts to the season haven’t they,” said Mings on the two exciting prospects.
“Both fantastic players, both come into the set-up and flourished.
“Played like themselves, enjoyed themselves, contributed positively for the team.
“So yeah, they can be extremely proud of the journey they’ve been on and obviously capped it off with a good camp for the two of them.”
Jewels in the queen’s crown
There are few brighter sparks right now in English football than Gallagher and Smith Rowe.
The former has been the prince of Crystal Palace’s strong campaign so far, whilst the Arsenal academy product is loving life in the Premier League.
Between them, the two Lion cubs have scored nine times and provided four assists for their respective London clubs.
Smith Rowe has three goals in his last three league games, whilst Gallagher is on two from two.
If the pair continue in their current form, Southgate will have a majorly tough decision to make when selecting his final 23-man group for next year’s World Cup in Qatar.
For all we know, both could make the cut, although there are still a few ahead of them in the pecking order to contend with.
But stranger calls have been made by past England managers, so watch this space.
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