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England face Czech Republic on Friday in the first of 10 Euro 2020 qualifiers and Crystal Palace fans will be watching on with frowns – if they even watch at all – after the controversial omission of Aaron Wan-Bissaka from the squad.
The impressive youngster lost out to Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier and Trent Alexander-Arnold for a spot but England Under-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd has insisted via The Daily Mail that he should not let the perceived setback be just that:
“There are lot of players now who are of dual nationality, particularly in younger age groups. All we can do is provide an environment in which they are going to learn, improve and want to come back to. If a player wants to leave then there’s nothing we can do.
“As far as Aaron is concerned, we think a lot of him and Gareth thinks a lot of him. Aaron has got plenty of time. The thing is now we live in a microwave society where you get half a cap and people think you should be in the senior team.”
Indeed, at 21 years of age, the Eagles defender has at least a decade of football ahead of him and therefore plenty of time to break into the Three Lions’ first team should that be where his loyalties lie.
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The right-back is also eligible to play for the DR Congo, whom he has featured for already at youth level, but certainly has the quality to feature for the 2018 World Cup semi-finalists in the future.
Having broken through to the Palace first team due to injuries, the number 29 might have been hoping that history would repeat itself on the international stage but, regardless of the three right-sided defenders being reduced to two, it hasn’t.
Perhaps more infuriating for Wan-Bissaka than his initial exclusion from the squad is why he wasn’t called upon when the aforementioned Alexander-Arnold withdrew on Wednesday due to a back injury – could this be the final straw for the tireless tackler?