Gareth Southgate Could Consider West Brom Star Jay Rodriguez in England Recall

Now that the path to the World Cup is all but secured for England, manager, Gareth Southgate will be tasked with the job of meticulously choosing his perfect squad to take to Russia next summer.

He’ll have more time on his hands now to drop in on more Premier League games to see who could potentially make the cut. He was present at the King Power Stadium on Monday night to watch Leicester City host West Brom.

Those would’ve assumed from his visitation that Southgate was there to lean a closer eye on the Leicester players, Jamie Vardy, Harry McGuire and even Jake Livermore on the other team, however, according to the Telegraph, it was West Brom’s Jay Rodriguez that caught Southgate's eye in the 1-1 draw.

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Rodriguez, 28 made his England debut back in 2013 in a friendly against Chile, and he could earn a surprise recall during next months International break. Friendly matches against Germany and Brazil will be testy auditions for Rodriguez, and other hopefuls against strong foes.

Rodriguez switched over from Southampton to West Brom in the summer for £12m, scoring two goals for Tony Pulis’ side, and the consistent run of games he is currently receiving could see him feature in the next international break.

An overdue recall for Rodriguez will serve as a restart on his international career, as he continues to climb away from his wretched string of injuries. It was the same injuries that impeded him from breaking into Roy Hodgson’s England squad four years ago.

Southgate is also believed to have spoken with Tottenham Hotspur head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who served as a consultant for all things Jay Rodriguez (via the Telegraph). The West Brom forward played under Pochettino during their time at Southampton together.

England will face Germany at Wembley on November 10th and then play Brazil four days later on November 14th.