Jude Bellingham in England squad for Ireland friendly

Jude Bellingham has been called up by Gareth Southgate for England's matches against the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and Iceland and would become the country's third youngest international if he were to feature.

The 17-year-old midfielder, who moved to Borussia Dortmund from Birmingham in July for an initial £25m, was initially named in the England under-21 squad. But Southgate has promoted him for a first taste of life in the seniors after the withdrawal of the Southampton midfielder, James Ward-Prowse, with a hamstring injury. The Liverpool fullback, Trent Alexander-Arnold, has also been forced out because of injury; he damaged a calf muscle in Sunday's game against Manchester City.

England's youngest ever player is Theo Walcott, who came on as a substitute against Hungary in 2006 aged 17 years and 75 days. The second youngest is Wayne Rooney, who featured against Australia in 2003 aged 17 years and 111 days. If he features against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday, Bellingham will be 17 years and 137 days old.

Bellingham played 44 games for Birmingham in his breakthrough season last time out – 41 of them in the Championship – and, after he became the most expensive 17-year-old of all time, the club took the unusual decision to retire his No 22 shirt.

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He had become Birmingham’s youngest player at 16 years and 38 days and the firsts have come at regular intervals during what has been a meteoric rise. In September, against Kosovo, he became the youngest player to represent England’s under-21s and last month, in Dortmund’s match against Lazio, he became the youngest English player to start in the Champions League.

So far this season he has started four out of Dortmund’s seven Bundesliga games, coming on as a substitute in a further two. He said in an interview last week that he went to Dortmund because: “The way they integrate young players into the first-team squad is next level. There is not a club in Europe that does it quite like them.”

Marcus Rashford will report for England on Thursday so that the injury he picked up for Manchester United against Everton on Saturday can be further assessed. It means he will not be considered for the Ireland friendly at Wembley that night.

England play in Belgium in the Nations League on Sunday before a game in the competition next Wednesday against Iceland, intended for Wembley but potentially taking place in Albania or Germany because of Covid-related travel restrictions that could affect the visiting team. Southgate’s side sit third in their four-team group, two points behind the leaders, Belgium. - Guardian