Our picks

Tosin Adarabioyo: Fulham’s aspiring future England centre-back

Six months ago, only the most avid football fan would’ve been aware of Tosin Adarabioyo.

As recently as a month ago, most Premier League fans would’ve agreed that Fulham were dead and buried. Fast forward to today and Fulham and centre back Tosin Adarabioyo have closed the gap to those above them and lie in the relegation zone of goal difference alone as the form side at the bottom of the table.

Having signed for the Cottagers in October from Manchester City, 23-year-old Tosin has played every Premier League minute since, first shoring up Fulham’s defence and now providing the backbone of a side playing impressive, front-foot football, alongside fellow ever-present centre back Joachim Andersen.

Tosin cannot take all the credit for Fulham’s improvement – they look a well-oiled cohesive unit – but a fifth clean sheet in seven deserves plaudits for the defence of any team, let alone one that faced Everton, Spurs and Liverpool during that run.

Centre back has been a troublesome position for England since John Terry and Rio Ferdinand left the international arena. It is arguably our weakest area right now, along with goalkeeper and central midfield, and one that has seen several Premier League regulars tried out.

John Stones has returned from the abyss to provide the Three Lions with a ray of hope this summer, while only Harry Maguire looks assured of a place in the squad alongside him, with Joe Gomez, Michael Keane, Eric Dier, Conor Coady and Tyrone Mings all featuring sporadically since the autumn.

The statistics of goals conceded and the league position do not lend weight to the argument that Tosin Adarabioyo should be called up ahead of of any of those, let alone others like James Tarkowski, Lewis Dunk, Ben Godfrey or Ezri Konsa.

What does favour Tosin is Fulham’s style of football. Gareth Southgate has made it clear he wants to play on the front foot, which naturally requires centre-halves to be comfortable in possession. He would be an incredibly rogue selection, but fully deserved.

Sam Hanys

A miserable Ipswich Town fan.

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