da bet7： Former England striker has tipped Danny Ings to earn a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad, due to the Southampton striker’s exquisite form so far this season.
da casino： Bent – who scored four goals in 12 appearances for England – was speaking live on talkSPORT about the former Liverpool forward’s efforts, and it’s hard to argue with his opinion.
Ings joined Southampton on a season-long loan deal in the summer of 2018, where the Saints then had an obligation to buy the 27-year-old in the summer of 2019 for a fee of £20m.
Having scored just seven league goals last term, Ings has now more than repaid the south coast side this season.
What did he say?
Bent told talkSPORT: “He is arguably England’s most in-form striker.
“What I like about Danny Ings is he’s not one of these strikers who, when your team has won 4-0 or 5-0 you score the fourth and fifth goals, which don’t mean anything, they’re irrelevant.
“The hardest goal in football is the first once, and Danny Ings always seems to score them.
“For me, he’s got to be talked about for England.”
Hard to disagree
So far this season, Ings’ goalscoring achievements have been up there with the very best forwards in Europe.
In the Premier League, the Southampton No.9 has outscored the likes of Harry Kane, Tammy Abraham, Raheem Sterling, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Sergio Aguero with 13 goals to his name, which is the same amount of league goals as La Liga’s top scorer, Lionel Messi – Ings has more league goals than Luis Suarez and Karim Benzema as well.
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Furthermore, he has also outscored Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of league goals, and it really is difficult to argue with Bent’s claim that Ings deserves an England recall.
His competition amongst Southgate’s options include Kane and Abraham – who he has outscored – as well as the Premier League’s top scorer in Jamie Vardy, who is out of contention as he has now effectively called time on his international career.
There is very little ground to stand on when mounting an argument against Bent’s opinion, and it must be said that the former Sunderland striker is right – Ings simply has to be considered for an England recall.
In other news, take a look at the Southampton XI that Ralph Hasenhuttl should deploy against Huddersfield in the FA Cup…