Theo Walcott, Gabi Agbonlahor and Micah Richards Dumped Back into England Under-21 Squad

Stuart Pearce’s Under 21 squad has been named for the game against Slovenia on Tuesday. Big(ish) news is that senior team hopefuls Theo Walcott and Gabi Agbonlahor are involved, which is probably a bit of a blow to them. I’d quite like to have seen either of them play for the “proper” team against the Czech Republic next Wednesday to be honest.

For the record, that’s two players who made Sven’s World Cup 2006 squad who are now only deemed good enough for junior duty, with Theo being joined by little Spurs pace merchant Aaron Lennon (who has also lost his right wing spot at White Hart Lane to David Bentley, Lennon must hate that guy.)

Micah Richards demotion to the 21s isn’t as worrying as you’d think, especially as he’s coming back from injury. Could mean we see Gary Neville back in an England shirt next week though. Not sure how to feel about that. Good, I think. Terrible moustache and Manky Manc accent, but solid right back.

Complete squad below:

Goalkeepers Tom Heaton (Manchester United), Joe Lewis (Peterborough)

Defenders Martin Crainie (Portsmouth), Craig Gardner (Aston Villa), Michael Mancienne (Chelsea), Nedum Onuoha (Manchester City), Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough), Steven Taylor (Newcastle), David Wheater (Middlesbrough)

Midfielders Lee Cattermole (Wigan), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Adam Johnson (Middlesbrough), Michael Johnson (Manchester City), Michael Kightly (Wolves), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), James Milner (Newcastle), Fabrice Muamba (Bolton), Mark Noble (West Ham), Jamie O’Hara (Tottenham)

Forwards Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Fraizer Campbell (Manchester United), Matt Derbyshire (Blackburn), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

As well as the familiar names mentioned above, this squad contains a lot of names from Football365’s uncapped England players XI, which looks like this:

GOALKEEPER: ROSS TURNBULL (BORO)

RIGHT-BACK: NEDUM ONOUHA (MAN CITY)
CENTRE-HALF: DAVID WHEATER (BORO)
CENTRE-HALF: CURTIS DAVIES (VILLA)
LEFT-BACK: ANDREW TAYLOR (BORO)

RIGHT MIDFIELD: JERMAINE PENNANT (LIVERPOOL)
CENTRAL MIDFIELD: JIMMY BULLARD (FULHAM)
CENTRAL MIDFIELD: NIGEL REO-COKER (ASTON VILLA)
LEFT MIDFIELD: MICHAEL JOHNSON (MAN CITY)

STRIKER: GABY AGBONLAHOR (ASTON VILLA)
STRIKER: MATT DERBYSHIRE (BLACKBURN)