The international break is often a boring time for football fans who prefer to watch their beloved club in action rather than watching their nation play out a meaningless friendly.
However, one thing it does bring is an outside look at how our club players are performing at every level. It's generally regarded as a sign that a player is in good form when they are selected to represent their nation unless they are Kalvin Phillips, of course.
It's therefore interesting to see that two young Newcastle players will be following in the footsteps of Lewis Miley and representing England at Under 17 level after receiving the call this week.
Trevan Sanusi and Leo Shahar have both been called up for the Under 17s upcoming fixtures against Northern Ireland, Hungary and France.
Sanusi joined Newcastle from Birmingham in September and beat some top sides to his signature. Both Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool were all interested in the 16-year-old who opted to join Newcastle.
The left-winger already has two U17s caps to his name and will be hoping to get the opportunity to add more during this break.
Leo Shahar is a 17-year-old versatile defender who has played centre-back, defensive midfield, central midfield and right-back for Newcastle's youth side in 19 games this season in all competitions with a goal and two assists to show for his efforts after joining from Wolves in the summer.
Like Sanusi, Shahar is no stranger to the England U17s having already made four appearances for the young Lions.
Newcastle target Chris Rigg has also received a call. The Sunderland player has often been linked with a switch to Tyneside from Wearside after the Newcastle fan made the tough decision to stay at Sunderland when signing a two-year scholarship at the Academy of Light last summer.
Another notable inclusion is Ollie Harrison who was a hot prospect at Newcastle before he made the move to Chelsea.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
12 | 16 | 31 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
12 | 5 | 23 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
4 |
Arsenal
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
5 |
Brighton
|
12 | 5 | 22 |
6 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
12 | 14 | 19 |
7 |
Nottingham Forest
|
12 | 2 | 19 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
12 | 0 | 19 |
9 |
Fulham
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
10 |
Newcastle United
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
11 |
Brentford
|
12 | 0 | 17 |
12 |
Manchester United
|
12 | 0 | 16 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
12 | -1 | 15 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
12 | -4 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
12 | -7 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
12 | -8 | 10 |
17 |
Wolves
|
12 | -8 | 9 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
12 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Crystal Palace
|
12 | -7 | 8 |
20 |
Southampton
|
12 | -15 | 4 |