Trent Alexander-Arnold has been omitted from England’s matchday squad to face Germany but Ivan Toney has made the cut.
Gareth Southgate has also excluded the suspended Jack Grealish, Fikayo Tomori, James Ward-Prowse and Jarrod Bowen for the Nations League match at Wembley.
The Liverpool defender did not feature in the 1-0 defeat to Italy in Milan last week.
The defeat leaves Southgate under pressure just months ahead of the 2022 World Cup, with a five-game winless streak.
“Of course, he does have a fantastic range of passing, we’re blessed with different profiles of player in that position,” Southgate said.
“If we play with wing-backs, Trippier and Reece James are also exceptional with the ball, in different ways, and we’re always having to look at the full package with everything and assess the players on all of their attributes
“They’ve all been to Champions League finals, some of them have been to latter stages of major tournaments with us, Trent’s won the league, Trippier’s won the Spanish league, [Kyle] Walker’s won the English league, there are so many good attributes about them.
“It’s a really difficult position to make decisions on, but we have to go with the ones we believe, and ultimately I’ll be judged on the outcome, as we know.”
Southgate also pointed to how Jurgen Klopp has been able to get the best out of Alexander-Arnold, adding: “I don’t see risks. You can have a style of play and a way of playing, and a balance to the team, that... at Liverpool they find a way of playing that brings the best out of his attributes.
“And that’s what we’re all trying to do with every team, you’re trying to build a team that accentuates the positives, and within the group protects yourselves against how the opponents might come from you.”
Alexander-Arnold has been discussed as a possible solution to England’s problem position in midfield, with Southgate reluctant to repeat the experiment.
“Well, I’ve never seen their clubs do it,” Southgate said before referencing the previous experimentation with Alexander-Arnold. “If you are not doing it every day… We have talked about Trent’s passing, that’s why we gave him a go in midfield.
“That got completely lambasted so I understand that if you are not doing that every day for your club in certain positions, it is very difficult to transfer that onto an international stage.”
