MICHAEL KEANE HAS been rewarded for his fine club form for Burnley and handed a senior England debut by Gareth Southgate for tonight’s friendly with Germany.
Born in Stockport, the 24-year-old represented the Republic of Ireland at U17 and U19 level before switching to the English setup.
He’s well-known to Southgate owing to the three years he spent playing under him with the England U21s and, after some terrific displays for the Clarets, Keane finally makes the step-up at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion this evening.
He was brought into his first England squad last October but there have been constant calls ever since for him to be handed a debut.
Keane is part of a three-man England defence, alongside Chris Smalling and Gary Cahill while Jake Livermore makes his first appearance for over five years.
For the Germans, Lukas Podolski pulls on the white shirt for the final time.
England XI: Hart; Keane, Smalling, Cahill; Walker, Dier, Livermore, Bertrand, Lallana, Alli, Vardy.
Germany XI: Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Jonas Hector, Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos, Lukas Podolski, Julian Weigl, Antonio Rudiger, Joshua Kimmich, Leroy Sane, Julian Brandt, Timo Werner.
Gerards rangers when they win :)