England head coach Gareth Southgate believes that the absence of several key midfielders in the League of Nations matches against Croatia and Spain can have a positive effect on the team.

"This is a big challenge, but it is a continuation of what we have been doing for the past 18 months," began the Southgate..

"We have a number of injured midfielders, in particular - Delle Allie, Jesse Lingard, Ruben Loftus-Chik and Fabian Delf. However, we know how to take advantage of this and benefit from it - check out the new players. We believe that we have several excellent young players that we tracked in their clubs or in our youth teams.. This is a great opportunity for us to look at them.. We always realize that we need a balance of attracting young players to the national team, but not mentally influencing their development ".

"They perform well in their clubs, they are confident. We would like to work with them now..

They know how the work is organized in the national team, "- quotes the words of Southgate Sky Sports.

Recall that the coaching staff of the England team called for the League of Nations matches with Croatia (October 12th) and Spain (October 15th) 25 players. Young players include 21-year-old James Maddison from Leicester, 19-year-old midfielder Derby County Mason Mount, 23-year-old Watford player Nathaniel Chalob, and 18-year-old Jade Sancho from Borussia.

Earlier it was reported that Southgate has signed a new 4-year contract with England.