England squad: Foden back in, but no place for Greenwood
Gareth Southgate has handed Phil Foden a recall to the England squad, having cut him and Mason Greenwood in September and left the pair out in October.
Manchester City's Phil Foden has been recalled to the England squad after being dropped by manager Gareth Southgate in September for breaching coronavirus protocols.
Foden and Greenwood sent home from Iceland trip
Midfielder Foden and Manchester United attacker Mason Greenwood were sent home following the Nations League clash with Iceland.
Southgate left the duo out of his squad for international fixtures in October to "send a message" that stepping out of line with England will not be tolerated.
Foden has now been restored to the squad, though there was no space for Mason Greenwood despite Harvey Barnes being overlooked and Danny Ings missing out through injury.
"We've huge belief" in Greenwood, Southgate insists
Speaking to reporters on Thursday regarding Greenwood, Southgate said: "Firstly, we've huge belief in him as a young player, he's on an incredible trajectory for someone so young.
"So, although this may be a disappointment for him, there's a huge amount of time ahead for him.
"He's an outstanding finisher and goal-scorer. He's not had a huge amount of football lately but this is an incredibly long season and he only had a short break at the end of last season.
"He's at a club that cares for young players very well, deals with young players well, they've managed his trajectory to this point extremely well and I know they'll continue to do that.
"I've spoken to Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer, United manager] this week and we are aligned in helping him to be the best player he can possibly be."
Foden and Greenwood "now judged on the football"
Southgate also insisted that Foden's call-up is completely disconnected from Greenwood's situation.
"They don't come as a pair," he added. "They're individual players with their own strengths. We are looking at the balance of the squad positionally.
"Phil has had quite a lot of football with his club. As for Mason, I've had a good chat with Ole. I think it's better to stay with his club.
"There was no carry-over [from the Iceland incident]. That's done. Both are available for selection. Both are going to be very good players.
"They're now judged on the football but they're both in areas where there is a lot of competition."
Raheem Sterling is available again after missing the previous three matches due to injury, while Reece James retained his place despite being shown a red card at the end of the 1-0 loss to Denmark in October.
James and Harry Maguire, who also saw red against Denmark, will miss the Nations League meeting with Belgium on 15 November.
England face the Republic of Ireland next Thursday and follow the clash with Belgium by hosting Iceland at Wembley three days later.
England squad:
Dean Henderson (Manchester United), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley); Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Conor Coady (Wolves), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Reece James (Chelsea), Michael Keane (Everton), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid), Kyle Walker (Manchester City); Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Declan Rice (West Ham), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Harry Winks (Tottenham); Tammy Abraham (Chelsea), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa) Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City).