Rangers’ rising star Zak Lovelace gets England call-up for Euro qualifiers – and reveals his full first name
ZAK LOVELACE has been called up for England’s under-17 squad – and revealed his full first name on the team-sheet.
The promising Rangers forward is in the pool for three matches this month.
He’ll head with the young lions to Holland for the Euro U17 elite qualifiers, aiming to book a return place to the finals themselves in Hungary at the end of the season.
Lovelace is one of 21 in Ryan Garry’s thoughts for games against Denmark tomorrow, Northern Ireland on Saturday and the Netherlands next week.
And he’s one of few in the pool who can boast first-team experience.
Team-mates include Lewis Miley of Newcastle and Chelsea’s Somto Boniface but Lovelace’s taste of the big-time against Queen of the South earlier this season sets him apart from most of his rivals.
He shared the squad announcement with fans on Instagram – showing his full first name Zakariya – and his team-mates for the trip.
Lovelace has impressed since arriving at Rangers from Millwall last summer and helped the under-18s to the Scottish Youth Cup Final and shook off a worrying injury against Real Madrid to return to action.
He is not the only Rangers youth on international duty with Adam Devine and Cole McKinnon on Scotland under-21 duty and Charlie Lindsay away with Northern Ireland under-19s.
Cameron Cooper, Bailey Rice and Leyton Grant are also in the national age-groups.
Meanwhile ex-Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster received a sensational call-up to the senior England squad for their upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Nick Pope was originally named in Gareth Southgate’s squad after a strong season with Premier League high flyers Newcastle United.
But after being forced to pull out of the set-up with a minor problem, Southgate turned to the six-times capped stopper, now with Spurs.
Last capped in 2016, he was a surprise inclusion ahead of the games against Switzerland and the Ivory Coast a year ago.
Forster has found himself between the sticks for Tottenham this recently after regular first choice, and captain, Hugo Lloris suffered an injury.
Nicknamed the ‘Great Wall’ by Spanish press after his heroics against Barcelona, Forster has had no less than FOUR spells at the Hoops, moving to Southampton from Glasgow for £10m in 2014.
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