Thomas Tuchel threw a couple of curveballs in his first England squad since taking over as manager with a recall for midfielder Jordan Henderson and a potential first cap for defender Dan Burn.
The German took over as Three Lions coach at the start of the year and on Friday evening announced his 26-man squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia at Wembley Stadium on March 21 and 24, respectively.
And two names that immediately stood out were those of Ajax's Henderson, now 34, and towering Newcastle centre-half Burn, earning a first call-up at the age of 32.
Henderson won his 81st and last England cap in November 2023 having fallen out of favour with previous manager Gareth Southgate after an unsuccessful spell in the Saudi Pro League with Al Ettifaq.
The former Liverpool captain moved to Dutch side Ajax after playing just 17 games in the SPL but failed to make the cut for last summer's Euro 2024 squad.
Henderson has been a consistent performer in the Eredivisie with Ajax currently eight points clear at the top after 25 games.
He has made 38 appearances already this season, also helping Ajax reach the last-16 of the Uefa Europa League where they were comprehensively beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt 6-2 over two legs.
And on Friday, Tuchel hailed Henderson as “a serial winner” who deserves his spot back in the squad.
“He's captain of Ajax. What he brings to every team is leadership, character, energy and personality.
“He makes sure everyone lives by the standards. He embodies everything we try to build. We want to build a team our fans are proud of.”
Burn, meanwhile, will go into Sunday's League Cup final against Liverpool on a high after his call-up.
The 2.01 metre-tall Geordie defender's career has seen him play his up the football pyramid after being released by hometown club Newcastle an 11-year-old.
Burn has seen his career trajectory go from playing non-league footballat Blyth Spartans and Darlington to starting and scoring in the Uefa Champions League with Newcastle – and now a potential first England cap.
“We started to work with Dan when we did in our relegation battle, such an inspiring guy,” said Magpies manager Eddie Howe ahead of this weekend's clash with the runaway Premier League leaders at Wembley Stadium.
“A very talented player and a great story, one of the great footballing stories really. A great comeback, someone who had to do it the real hard way coming through the leagues.
“He’s dedicated, professional, a leader, a real man and inspirational figure.
“He’s been given great strengths, his size and his height, they are brilliant weapons to have on a football pitch, particularly as a centre-half, but then you’ve got to improve all the other areas of your game to see that as a big strength. He’s done that for me.”
Another player Tuchel has brought back into the England set-up is Marcus Rashford, currently on loan at Aston Villa from Manchester United.
Like Henderson, the 27-year-old failed to make Southgate's Euro 2024 squad and last played during the defeat against Brazil in March 2023.
Having had his attitude called out in public by United manager Ruben Amorim and continually left out of the Portuguese's match-day squads, Rashford moved to Villa in January desperate for game time.
Despite only starting four of his nine appearances at the Midlands club, Tuchel has seen enough to warrant a call-up for the attacker who has scored 17 goals in 60 games for England.
“I felt that Marcus had a huge impact since he since he changed to Aston Villa,” Tuchel said. “He made a huge impact from the bench, mostly from the bench.
“The impact was impressive, the physical impact was impressive and, most importantly, the impact against the ball, his work rate, his defensive effort, his hard work in counter pressing, his tracking back on his position, was impressive.
“I had the strong feeling that we should nominate him, we should bring him in, to push him to stay on that level, to not fall back in old routines. It was very impressive.
“This camp is to bond with him, to get to know him, and push him to stay on exactly that level.”
As well as Burn, there were three other players hoping to earn a first cap in Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford, Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah and Arsenal's teenage full-back Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Chelsea right-back Reece James, who played under Tuchel at Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur attacker Dominic Solanke both made the squad after recently returning from injuries.
There was no place for Al Ahli's former Brentford striker Ivan Toney, despite his 16 goals in 21 SPL games this season.
Tuchel made a point of mentioning James Maddison, Conor Gallagher, Morgan Gibbs-White, Jacob Ramsey and Jarrad Branthwaite as being unlucky to miss out.
