Southgate claims Gallagher is proof the FA's World Cup winning plan is working

Conor Gallagher has become the latest member of the 2017 Golden Generation to graduate into the England seniors.

Chelsea midfielder Gallagher, on a season-long loan at Crystal Palace, is the FIFTH player from the under-17s World Cup winning squad to be called up by Gareth Southgate.

Gallagher joins Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Emile Smith Rowe and Callum Hudson-Odoi to have got the call for the senior squad and it underlines the importance of the youth set-up at St George's Park.

For years, the Football Association used to wheel out the mantra of a winning mentality, needing to play through the age groups and how the 2022 World Cup would be England's time because that is when the Golden Generation was coming of age.

Foden is the prodigious talent. Sancho the exciting winger who learned his trade in Germany. Smith-Rowe has enjoyed a remarkable 2021 at Arsenal. Hudson-Odoi graduated quickly and is now getting frustrated at not making the squad.

Gallagher, 21, has bided his time because he has struggled to get minutes at Chelsea but has been on loan at Swansea, West Brom and now Palace. His career has been brilliantly managed but he could still get an England cap before he plays for his parent club.

That is the way of the world now for young players but England boss Southgate believes the circumstances are right for the players to graduate through the age groups with various development bosses overseeing players and their progress.

Southgate said: "It's definitely something that was our aim at St George's Park, to not only have an environment that players could do what they done this week where they are in with the Under-21s and it's smooth transition across to be with us.

"But also the more winning experiences that they could have, the more big match experience they can have and the feeling of playing well and succeeding in an England shirt that's definitely been something that through Dan (Ashworth), Matt Crocker, now John (McDermott) is a desire for us.

"John's out with our Under-19s in Sweden at the moment, he was with the Under-21s earlier in the week but we're in communication with all those coaches.

"Of course the next bit is of course the boys have still got to play with their clubs to keep that progress going so Conor and Emile have definitely been doing that, they've played well with the Under-21 and they've played very well with their clubs and their progress is really exciting."

Gallagher was close to getting into Southgate's squad even before the likes of Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice pulled out. Southgate has watched him closely at Palace but says any comparisons to David Beckham - largely because of his hairstyle - are way off.

Southgate smiled: "I'm not sure David Beckham would be very happy about that. He's a completely different sort of player frankly. We've been very impressed with him.

"We've tracked him for a very long time in his loan spells at Charlton, Swansea - we knew the staff there very well - at West Brom and now at Crystal Palace so in each loan he has done extremely well.

"He has started the season very well with Palace. We talked about him when we named the original squad as somebody we were keen to keep an eye on and I suppose it's one of the benefits of being with the under-21s because it was an easy transition for us to bring him across.

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"He was already Covid tested and going from one to the other was straightforward. That's not to say he is only there because of that - he is here because he deserves to be here - but it was an easy transition for us to make."

That felt like a dig at Hudson-Odoi who has opted to stay at Chelsea rather join up with the under-21s because he maybe felt he should be with the seniors. He is now being courted by Ghana.

Rhian Brewster was the red-hot striker in the under-17s but is now facing his own struggles for form and fitness and now the others are showing that the graduation process can be a long but rewarding road.

And the next cab off the rank could be Palace defender Marc Guehi who was part of the under-17s set up and is now catching the eyes of the England scouts.