Ivan Toney has been given the perfect birthday present by Gareth Southgate with a recall to the England squad for next week's Euro 2024 qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine.
The Brentford striker, who turned 27 today, has admitted to a number of the 262 charges issued against him for breaching FA gambling rules, but Southgate was adamant that his omission from the World Cup squad in November had nothing to do with the case.
Toney was called up for the first time for the Nations League games in September, but did not feature.
He is the second-highest English scorer in the Premier League this season after Harry Kane and hit a 16th goal of the campaign as the Bees beat Southampton 2-0 on Wednesday night.
Kyle Walker is also in the squad, despite being the subject of police enquiries into allegations that he exposed himself in a bar. But there was no place for Arsenal’s Ben White, who was in the World Cup squad but returned home from Qatar early for personal reasons.
Raheem Sterling misses out through injury but Chelsea full-backs Reece James and Ben Chilwell have been recalled after missing the World Cup through injury.
AC Milan centre-half Fikayo Tomori misses out.
England face Italy in Naples next Wednesday and host Ukraine at Wembley three days later.
