AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth midfielder Lewis Cook has been named as a standby for England’s 2018 FIFA World Cup squad.
The 21-year-old was handed his senior Three Lions debut by national boss Gareth Southgate in March against Italy at Wembley Stadium, while also being an unused substitute in recent friendlies against Holland and Brazil.
Cook famously captained England’s under-20 side to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in the summer of 2017, and has represented his country at every youth level.
The midfielder, who joined AFC Bournemouth from Leeds United in July 2016, has enjoyed a successful season at Vitality Stadium, making 33 appearances and becoming a mainstay in Eddie Howe's side.
As part of England’s five-man standby list, Cook could be called upon should anyone drop out of Southgate's 23-man squad for the tournament in Russia.
The England boss spoke highly of his standby players to thefa.com and said: "History tells us that one of those standby players may end up in the squad, as it’s very unusual for us to get through the end of the season and our two preparation games without any issues.
"All of the guys on standby have been really professional in their approach to this. They recognise there’s still an opportunity and we’ve had a lot of conversations over a period of time with them about their situation."
FULL SQUAD: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jack Butland, Gary Cahill, Dele Alli, Fabian Delph, Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Phil Jones, Harry Kane, Jesse Lingard, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Harry Maguire, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Marcus Rashford, Danny Rose, Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Jamie Vardy, Kyle Walker, Danny Welbeck, Ashley Young.
STANDBY: Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski, Lewis Cook, Jake Livermore, Adam Lallana.
