England squad announcement LIVE: Lee Carsley reveals selection for upcoming Nations League fixtures

Lee Carsley admitted it was a “challenge” to name his latest England but said Aston Villa star Morgan Rogers is close to a senior call-up.

Rogers, 22, has shone for Villa this season and played in the club’s victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday night. The attacking midfielder has also started all six of Villa’s Premier League games this season, scoring once and making two assists.

Rogers had to settle for a place in England’s Under-21s squad last month - a decision his club manager Unai Emery called a “surprise” - and the former Manchester City youth product will have to continue waiting for his chance after Carsley announced his latest squad on Thursday.

Michael O’Neill has admitted his concern over Paddy McNair’s lack of game time at West Brom ahead of Northern Ireland’s Nations League fixtures against Belarus and Bulgaria.

McNair’s importance to Northern Ireland has only increased over the past 12 months with the loss of experienced heads including Steven Davis, Jonny Evans, and Stuart Dallas, with the 29-year-old one of only two remaining players, alongside Josh Magennis, who went to Euro 2016.

McNair, who scored in Northern Ireland’s 2-0 win over Luxembourg last month, signed for Major League Soccer expansion club San Diego in the summer and joined West Brom on loan until the new year, but things have not worked out as planned so far at The Hawthorns.

Lee Carsley has been explaining away the decisions he’s made over the England squad and addressed why Eberechi Eze, who was selected for September’s matches, misses out this time.

Carsley said: “It’s more of a chance for me to look at other players. It’s nothing they have done, definitely nothing to do with form.

“It’s just a case of using this period of the next two camps to experiment a little bit and look at other players. The players that have been left out have all got a case to be in the squad but I thought it was important that, we’ve seen the benefit of the last squad being fresh and it feeling fresh, having a lot of energy in it - not that those players didn’t bring that - but I thought it was important it wasn’t just a cope and paste.

“I want the to feel like they’ve earned their place in the squad. I’ve spoken to all the players that aren’t involved and have had good conversations with them. People want to know where they stand long term and I’ve made it clear that this is a short-term decision by myself.”

Here’s the interim England boss on why he decided to recall Tottenham forward Dominic Solanke:

“It’s been really positive. People seem to be very complimentary about the team, but I understand it’s early days. The difference is, everyone’s got an opinion on the England team. People are desperate for the team to win and do well.”

Lee Carsley says that there were a lot of players close to making the England squad including Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers who has had a fine start to the season.

The interim boss said: “There’s a lot of players that were close to being in this squad. The talent that we’ve got available for us, it would have been quite easy to name a 40-man squad and justify having them all in.

“The challenge is making sure that we pick a competitive squad that can win the two games.”

Dominic Solanke has posted about his England call-up on Instagram saying he is ‘delighted’ about returning to the national side set up.

That was a question posed to the interim England boss who said that Palmer has risen to every challenge put in front of him and is now earning his rewards.

Carsley said: “No, not really. Knowing Cole for a number of years, I’ve seen how he’s progressed. Every challenge that’s been put in front of Cole, he just takes in his stride.

“He doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low, and that’s a brilliant attribute to have as a professional footballer. It’s great to see him doing so well.”

After Harry Kane received criticism from the German media for his performance against Aston Villa last night, Lee Carsley defended the England captain and his record in ‘big games’.

“I watched the match [Villa beating Bayern] last night and it was a brilliant game, really high tempo.” he siad, “Harry Kane is important to us and he will always score goals.

“Centre-forwards are an easy target for some, as you expect them to deliver, but there are 10 other players and he needs support and to have chances created for him and I think he is outstanding.

”He was outstanding in our last camp and is in a good place.”

Tottenham striker Dominic Solanke has been called up to the England squad for games against Greece and Finland, but Eberichi Eze, Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford and James Maddison have been overlooked.

Solanke has not played for his country since featuring against Brazil in 2017, but has been named in interim boss Lee Carsley’s 25-man squad for the Nations League games in the upcoming international break.

The 27-year-old has scored in his last three games for Spurs following his big-money summer move from Bournemouth.