Harry Maguire and Nathaniel Chalobah called up to England squad for first time

The Leicester City defender Harry Maguire and Watford midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah have been named in the England squad for the first time. Gareth Southgate named the pair in his 28-man squad for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Malta on 1 September and Slovakia three days later.

Southgate has named four goalkeepers as well as eight forwards in his first squad since the retirement of Wayne Rooney on Wednesday. Rooney was asked to join the squad but opted to retire from international football instead.

“I thought his performances for Hull were very good,” said Southgate of Maguire, who joined Leicester from Hull this summer. “He’s a defender that’s very comfortable with the ball and that’s the profile of international football. I think he’s already adjusted really well at Leicester to a new club. He plays with great composure (and) can defend the ball in the box.

“So I think it’s a really good opportunity for us to have a look at him ... for him to get a feel of being around the senior squad and we can assess how he goes in training and that sort of thing. As you say, we were looking at him towards the end of last season but he wasn’t really fully fit towards the end of the year.”

England squad: Joe Hart, Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Tom Heaton; Ryan Bertrand, Aaron Cresswell, Gary Cahill, Phil Jones, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Michael Keane, Chris Smalling, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker; Eric Dier, Nathaniel Chalobah, Jake Livermore, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain; Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck, Jesse Lingard, Dele Alli, Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Jermain Defoe, Daniel Sturridge.