Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey called into England U21 squad to replace Chelsea's Reece James

Brighton right-back Tariq Lamptey has received his first England Under-21 call-up ahead of the upcoming trips to Kosovo and Austria.

By Derren Howard

Published 2nd Sep 2020, 18:14 GMT

Updated 2nd Sep 2020, 18:18 GMT

Tariq Lamptey has been called-up for the England under-21 squad

The 19-year-old, who joined Brighton from Chelsea for £3m in January, has previously represented England at under-18 and under-20 level.

He comes into the squad as a replacement for his former Chelsea team-mate Reece James, who has withdrawn along with attacking midfielder Ebere Eze, who completed a move from QPR to Crystal Palace last week for an initial fee of £16million.

That leaves Aidy Boothroyd with a group of 22 players for the Young Lions’ Euro 2021 qualifiers against Kosovo on Friday and Austria next Tuesday.

It's a deserved call-up for Lamptey who was one of Brighton's best players are the lockdown and helped his new club secure their fourth consecutive season in the Premier League.

Lamptey will hope to be in Albion's starting XI to face his former club as Brighton begin their 2020/21 Premier League campaign at home to Chelsea on September 14.