Gary Lineker thinks two players 'richly deserved' England call-ups amid shock Ben White decision

Gary Lineker has praised two players who "richly deserved" their England call-ups.

Gareth Southgate named his 25-man squad on Thursday ahead of back-to-back friendlies against Brazil and Belgium at Wembley.

The England boss included two first-time call-ups in Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite and Newcastle United forward Anthony Gordon.

Branthwaite earned his call-up after impressing for the Toffees, while Gordon has scored three goals in his last five games for Eddie Howe's men.

After the pair were included in Southgate's plans, former England forward Gary Lineker echoed the thoughts of many with his reaction.

He retweeted posts mentioning Gordon and Branthwaite's call-ups, saying: "Richly deserved".

Southgate opened up on his decision to include Manchester United transfer target Jarrad Branthwaite in his squad as Euro 2024 approaches.

Speaking in his press conference, he said: “He’s played consistently well. We watched him as a back up centre-half in the Under-21 [European] finals last year, and if you’d said to me he would play as consistently well at Premier League level as he has, I’d have questioned that last summer."

Southgate added: “Great credit to him and to Sean [Dyche, the Everton manager]. He’s given a young centre-half the opportunity. He’s good with the ball, shows good composure and mentality, and he’s a left-footer, and we don’t have many left-footed defenders.

“He’s in on merit and we are really keen to work with him and find out a bit more about him.”

Southgate also praised Anthony Gordon for his form at Newcastle this season.

Explaining why he included the former Everton winger in his plans, the England manager said: "Consistently good performances. He was very close in November, I said that at the time, and he’s continued his form.

"He’s scoring, his work for the team is excellent, he competes, which is important.

"I really like his attitude and he’s another one we watched closely with the Under-21’s where he fulfilled a different role as a false-nine but he did that really well. He’s had a very good season and has got goals against some of the big teams which for us is very interesting to see.”

The Three Lions will begin their preparations for Euro 2024 with back-to-back friendlies this month. They host Brazil on Saturday 23 March and then Belgium three days later.