Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton earns England Under-21 promotion | OneFootball

Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton has been called up to the England Under-21 squad for the first time.

Wharton has been added to Lee Carsley’s squad for Tuesday’s European U21 Championship qualifier against Luxembourg at the Toughsheet Community Stadium in Bolton, while Carney Chukwuemeka has returned to Chelsea early as he works his way back to full fitness.

Wharton made his third appearance for England’s U20s in last Tuesday’s 5-1 win over Poland but has now been moved up an age group.

The 20-year-old signed for Palace from Championship side Blackburn in January for a fee of £22.5million, joining the Eagles in the same window as Colombia right-back Daniel Munoz signed from Genk.

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Carsley’s U21s will be hoping to build on their strong form against Luxembourg on Tuesday, following Friday’s 5-1 away victory in Azerbaijan. Chukwuemeka travelled for that match but did not feature, and has now returned to Cobham.

Manchester City full-back Rico Lewis and Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford both started against Azerbaijan but were promoted to Gareth Southgate’s senior squad on Sunday evening.

They were added after Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker and Sam Johnstone all joined Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka in having returned to their club sides amid injury issues. England now have 23 players in their squad to face Belgium in Tuesday’s sold-out friendly at Wembley.