Gareth Southgate Discusses Jamie Vardy's England Future Following Impressive Start to the Season

England boss has refused to rule out an England return for Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, following the forward's strong start to the season. 

Vardy retired from international football in the aftermath of the 2018 World Cup, but a strong start to the 2019/20 season, in which he's notched three goals in his first four Premier League games, has forced him back into the reckoning.

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However, as Gareth Southgate alluded to, as quoted by the Times, there are other considerations to be taken, especially with Tammy Abraham still eligible to play for Nigeria having only played in friendlies for the Three Lions thus far.

Nigeria are known to be continually courting Abraham, who hasn't played for England since November 2017, and on his development, Southgate declared: “With Tammy, he’s a young player that we’ve always liked, we know he’ll score goals.

"We felt it was a bit early this time but he can offer us something moving forward. We need to make certain he feels the opportunity is going to be there. I’m pretty sure he does."

The tactician then turned to the Vardy situation, explaining: “With Jamie, it’s obvious how well he’s still playing and the discussion we had at the time with him was always, ‘Look, neither of us close the door.’

"There’s no point in him travelling if he wasn’t going to be starting at his age, and I can understand that. The door isn’t closed because he’s still a top player and still scoring important goals. He’s a character we’ve liked having around.”