Hodgson to add Arsenal defender to England squad

Carl Jenkinson. Photo credit: Andrew Matthews/PA wire

Thursday, November 8, 2012
3:32 PM

England Roy Hodgson has revealed that he plans to add Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson to his England squad for next week’s match with Sweden, once Fifa clearance is given.

Clearance is needed because of the former Charlton Athletic player’s appearances for Finland at Under-21 level.

He said told FATV: “The reason I didn’t include Carl from the start is because we haven’t, at this moment in time, got clearance from FIFA but we do believe that they are going to grant that clearance within a day or two.

“So by next Wednesday, he will be clear to play. He wants to play for England and has made that clear so we applied for permission to FIFA, as one is allowed to do, immediately after he left us and before we set off for Poland.

“That was a month ago, but I didn’t want to put his name down in a squad until such time as I’ve got FIFA clearance saying he’s available to play for us in my hand.

“If the clearance comes through, we will put him in the squad. He was with us for training just before we left for Poland and I made it clear to him then that if he did want to play for England, I would include him in this squad and I intend to keep that promise.”