Norwich City star Nathan Redmond named in England Under-21 squad

Liverpool pair Jordon Ibe and Joe Gomez are rewarded for their bright start to the season with their first U21 call-ups and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli is also selected after scoring his first Premier League goal at the weekend.

England Under-21s will play the USA Under-23s at Preston North End on September 3, before facing Norway in a European Championship qualifier four days later.

Southgate has named a 23-man squad to take on USA’s U23 Olympic hopefuls in Preston on Thursday 3 September, before starting their Euro U21 Qualifying campaign in Norway on Monday 7 September.

‘You don’t sit there and think “I can do what I like and I’ll be fine”,’ said Southgate, whose contract runs until June 2017.

“We have internal debriefs and it is good to reflect on everything”.

“We moved him up a year last year and he was the best defender in the Under-19s”. Our players are spread over 16 clubs and you can’t (go and see them) and do the other teams as well.

That is partially inevitable in age-group football but Southgate is also looking at a clean slate with Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling, Everton defender John Stones and Manchester United full-back Luke Shaw, who would still be available, all expected to be included in Roy Hodgson’s senior squad on Sunday. It is always a dual objective.

Southgate pointed out that the Under-21s are about more than just winning.

Gunn has not been capped at U21 level before but signed a new long-term deal with Manchester City this summer and has been involved with the Premier League giants’ first-team squad during pre-season.

“He’s somebody who is urgent in his defending, aggressive in his defending and has great composure”.

The squad meet at St George’s Park next week and Southgate will hold talks with Liverpool winger Ibe – who is also wanted by Nigeria – then over where he sees his global future.

“If others emerge to challenge for the seniors, brilliant. The seniors is always the priority”.

And Southgate said of the 18-year-old: “It wasn’t a straightforward decision because the policy is generally not to move them up too early, but we think he deserves it on merit”. We have got a European Championship next summer and we want the team to do well. There is no prospect Ibe will be fast-tracked by the FA just to get a senior cap to make him an England player.