LEE CARSLEY says Emile Smith Rowe should not see his inclusion back in the England U21 squad as a “demotion”.
And the Young Lions chief fully expects Arsenal star Smith Rowe to be on top of his game, despite having been in the senior set-up last time out.
Smith Rowe came off the bench in England’s 3-0 win over Ivory Coast in March, and now has three senior caps and a goal to his name.
But Gareth Southgate overlooked him for his latest squad, leaving Carsley to select him for the four Euro qualifiers the U21s play in June.
There have been previous examples of players not responding well to being asked to turn out for the U21s again having already represented the seniors.
The most recent case was that of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who asked to be left out of Carsley’s squads last year and who now could be set to switch to Ghana.
Yet Carsley said: “We don’t want them to see it as a demotion. Ultimately your club form takes care of that.
“Our job is to maybe let them kick-start themselves again or maybe come into form and score some goals.
“It’s such a high standard in the seniors that it’s almost a conveyor belt where you need to perform weekly in, week out.
“The way Gareth communicates to the players when they go up always leaves that opportunity to come back across and play with us.”
