Crystal Palace full-back Tyrick Mitchell has been told what he must do to get back into Gareth Southgate’s senior England squad.
The 22-year-old academy graduate enjoyed a brilliant 2020/21 season for Palace as Patrick Vieira’s first-choice left-back, making 41 appearances for the club as they finished 12th in the Premier League and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup for just the fifth time in the club’s history.
Mitchell made up an integral part of Palace’s defence that conceded their lowest total of goals since their return to the top flight nine years ago, also finishing the season as the player with the second-most tackles across the entire league behind Brentford’s Christian Norgaard.
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His performances warranted a first senior call-up to Gareth Southgate’s England side in March where he made his debut in a friendly against Switzerland at Wembley just a stone’s throw away from his home neighbourhood of Brent. Mitchell then started England’s next friendly against Ivory Coast, playing an hour in a 3-0 win and helping the Three Lions to a clean sheet.
But despite his strong showings, Mitchell was left out of Southgate’s latest England squad for their UEFA Nations League fixtures against Hungary, Germany and Italy, despite several defenders being unavailable due to injury including Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell. Southgate instead opted to give Leicester City’s James Justin his debut at left-back against Hungary, though he was forced off at half-time with injury to be replaced by winger Bukayo Saka. Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier, a natural right-back but capable of playing on the left, then started against Germany in Munich.
And with only a handful of international games left until England heads to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup later this year, chances are extremely limited for players to stake their claim to be on the flight to the Middle East. If Mitchell’s chances were slim before the latest squad was named, they now look nearly non-existent.
But the full-back has received words of encouragement from a man who has been there and done it before though - England’s second-most capped full-back and Crystal Palace legend Kenny Sansom. The London-born defender came through the ranks of Palace and went on to appear in 197 games for the club, also turning out 86 times for England between 1979 and 1988 and appearing at the 1982 World Cup in Spain and the 1986 edition in Mexico.
Sending a message to Mitchell on Twitter, Sansom said: “Tyrick Mitchell had a great season, playing for Palace and England too. If he carries on like that, he can be like me! He's had a good season. He needs to stay in the Palace team now and just keep playing his game.” Mitchell quickly responded, adding: “Means a lot coming from a legend.”
Mitchell looks set to continue as Palace’s first-choice left-back for the coming season, with the club’s next contender for that position being another academy graduate Tayo Adaramola. The 18-year-old made his first-team debut in the FA Cup this season and has been linked with a loan move to Coventry City next season as he bids to gain more first-team experience.
