Burnley manager Sean Dyche claims that England boss Gareth Southgate will determine if James Tarkowski is good enough for the England national team. Ben Mee has been in the England over the last couple of months after some impressive performances with Burnley, who have been excellent at the back in the Premier League. Very few teams have been able to score past the clarets this season, as Mee has formed an excellent partnership with Tarkowski at the back. Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea are the only three teams to have kept more clean sheets than Burnley in the Premier league this season.

In terms of the headed clearances and blocks made by players over the course of the campaign, Mee and Tarkowski are in the top five list. Speaking with regard to the potential call-ups for the England national team, Dyche says that it is up to Southgate in order to determine the ability of the two players in the next few months. Southgate has major decisions to make with regard to the players who will be traveling with the squad for the World Cup 2018. After a comfortable qualification campaign, England have a major job ahead of the tournament after their failures in recent events.

“If he’s in the thoughts then great. I think it’s good a number of our players are at least in the thoughts. They won’t all make his squads, some might make some and some might not make any. It’s good to think that Burnley Football Club have players who are really clear in Gareth’s thoughts and I think that’s a really good sign for the whole group,” said Dyche when asked about the possibility of the Burnley centre back pairing managing to feature at the World Cup 2018. Burnley have the possibility of even qualifying for Europe this season.