England manager Gareth Southgate believes that Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi missed out on a full call-up due to his decision not to play for the Under-21s during the previous international break.

Hudson-Odoi has been in very good form with Thomas Tuchel's team in the Premier League and Champions League this season.

However, he was not among the names that Three Lions boss Southgate chose for their upcoming World Cup Qualifiers.

"I had a good chat with Callum before last month's get-together because it is difficult if you are a young player, you've been with the senior team, he went back to play with the U21s in the last cycle and then to go again in a second cycle, I can understand is a difficult challenge," Southgate told reporters.

"So we would still like him to do that but he wants to back himself with his Chelsea form to get back into the seniors and I totally respect that. So by not being in the Under-21s he misses a bit of an opportunity to impress us and come across if we need players for training and those sorts of things.

"He has had a couple of good matches for Chelsea. I know Thomas [Tuchel] is guarded about how much he goes with praise on that but it is good to see him back playing and playing more regularly at first-team level and he knows the challenge that's ahead. But he knows also that we are constantly watching him and he is young and talented enough to mount a serious challenge as we move forward."