England manager Gareth Southgate forced to turn to new midfield face after Danny Drinkwater turns down call

The Chelsea midfielder, recovering from a calf problem, did not feel fit enough to turn out for his country in the friendlies against Germany and Brazil

Gareth Southgate has seen several players pull out of the friendlies through injury (Getty)

Gareth Southgate will give Ruben Loftus-Cheek his England debut alongside latest captain Eric Dier against Germany on Friday after a midfield injury crisis which saw Danny Drinkwater pull out again with a calf problem.

After the withdrawals of Harry Winks and Jordan Henderson earlier this week, Southgate hoped to call up Drinkwater but the Chelsea midfielder, who has been injured whenever Southgate has tried to call him in the past, said that he did not feel ready this time either. Drinkwater arrived at Chelsea with a calf problem, which he felt again during Sunday’s 1-0 win over Manchester United. He is only in light training at Cobham this week.

“I wanted to find out where he felt he was,” Southgate said. “He has only played 70 minutes for Chelsea in terms of starting, and he felt he wasn’t ready yet to play at this level. The physical demands at this level are incredibly high now. You’ve got to be able to cover the ground, you’ve got feel that you are in peak physical condition. If Danny didn’t feel he wasn’t ready for that I can understand given the amount of minutes he’s had, and didn’t play at the end of the season with Leicester either.”

Given Drinkwater has pulled out of England squads in the past, Southgate was asked whether this was a pattern of behaviour. Southgate would not be drawn and said he would always trust a player’s account of his own fitness. “He’s not been fit for the last three camps,” he said. “You can’t do anything about that. I thought it would be worth finding out where he was, given there’s a chance he plays for Chelsea this year, plays at a good level, but he missed quite a bit of the pre-season and I’d back individual players to know where they are physically in terms of what they are capable of.”

With no Drinkwater, Eric Dier, who is set to captain England for the first time, will be partnered by Loftus-Cheek in midfield on Friday night. The 21-year-old is in the senior squad for the first time, owing to his impressive form since he went on loan from Chelsea to Crystal Palace. This is the first time Loftus-Cheek has been a Premier League regular and Southgate was excited to finally give him his chance.

“He's always been the biggest kid in the playground, but he's not a player who's survived on physical strength,” Southgate said of Loftus-Cheek. “He is a player of great technique. He's a different sort of player, he’s at his best in behind the opposition midfield, driving at defences. He’s got great technical quality, dribbling ability and power, he's a really exciting player.”

Southgate wanted to involve Loftus-Cheek during the last international break, but he was injured, and this is his first ever senior call-up. “He's a player I’ve seen and worked with since Under-15s,” Loftus-Cheek said. “He has suffered with growing as early as he did, in terms of game time, throughout his career. He's quite a quiet lad. So I hope he gets a lift in confidence from how we see him, the level we think he's capable of.”

Loftus-Cheek has always enjoyed working with Southgate – he called him a “top manager and proper nice person” – and feels as if his own game has developed by playing regular Premier League football. He has now made six Premier League starts for Palace, as many as he ever made for Chelsea. “Training you can only improve so much,” he said. “Games and training are completely different, in terms of sharpness, fitness. So for me to get to that next level I needed to play regular football, whether it be Premier League or in Germany. So that was the decision.”

His midfield partner Dier will wear the armband, with Southgate explaining: "Eric plays with maturity and intelligence. He understands the game really well and is also a great role model. I hope giving him this reward and responsibility will also bring even more out of him as well."

But there will be no midfield role for Jack Wilshere this week. Southgate has fielded plenty of questions about why he did not choose the Arsenal man but shed new insight on Thursday. Southgate said that he would rather play Wilshere in a central midfield role, because he does not think Wilshere can do the pressing Southgate wants from his front three. But Arsene Wenger continues to play Wilshere as an inside forward, rather than in midfield. So Wilshere cannot even get the game-time in the position that Southgate wants to use him in.

“I don’t think Jack is a ten, I think he is a deeper player, but he is not playing deeper,” Southgate explained. “He didn’t play deeper for Bournemouth. He is not playing deeper for Arsenal.” But the pressing demands of Southgate’s England mean Wilshere cannot play near the front line for this team. “There are certain physical demands for different positions which are in the way we want play, the way we want to press,” Southgate said. “That is maybe a little bit different to the way Arsenal play. But he is a top kid and his understanding of the game is excellent. And I am hoping, like I said before, that we are in a position in March where we can pick him.”