Jamie Carragher gave his surprise Lewis Dunk verdict as Brighton ace finally receives England call

England head coach Gareth Southgate has named Brighton centre back Lewis Dunk in his 25-man squad for the Euro 2024 June qualifiers – much to the delight of former Liverpool and England centre back Jamie Carragher.

Having kicked off qualification with wins over Italy and Ukraine, Group C continues with next month’s double header against Malta and North Macedonia.

Lewis Dunk returned four-and-a-half years since making his debut against the United States in November 2018. The Brighton skipper has been excellent for Albion the Premier League and has helped his club to Europa League qualification for the first time in their history.

Last month Carragher tweeted: “The passing and composure from Brighton’s two central defenders is fantastic. John Stones and Lewis Dunk are the best English CB’s [centre-backs] right now.”

Albion fans have long been calling for Dunk to return to the international and the 31-year-old will now get another chance to impress the England boss.

Southgate had no qualms about naming a strong squad when there might have been a temptation to allow some of his senior stars to have a rest.

He said: “We have played North Macedonia twice at home and never beaten them. To be a top team, if we want to be European champions, we have got to nail big games – like we did in March – and make sure we nail the complicated ones.

“It is a good test of commitment and togetherness. This group don’t want to let each other down. We want to keep progressing as a team.”

Eric Dier and Raheem Sterling are the high-profile absentees and Crystal Palace attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze the only uncapped player in the group. Callum Wilson, Tyrone Mings, Sam Johnstone and Trent Alexander-Arnold also returned to the fold.