Aaron Cresswell has enjoyed a stellar start to the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, and now his form is getting noticed, with BBC Match of the Day duo Gary Lineker and Jermaine Jenas the latest to acknowledge the West Ham defender.
The 30-year-old has responded well to his new position on the left-hand side of a back three, and some pundits believe he may be worthy of adding to his three England caps.
All of Cresswell’s caps came as a natural left-back under current England manager Gareth Southgate, with his debut coming against Spain back in 2016.
Southgate has started employing three centre-backs with his side, similar to David Moyes’ formation, leading to calls that Cresswell could be the man for the job.
Speaking on BBC’s Match of the Day, Lineker suggested the Liverpool-born defender, who has played every minute in the league for the Irons this season, must be nearing a call-up, saying: “Aaron Cresswell is not in the England squad but he must be knocking on the door.”
Former Tottenham and England midfielder Jenas responded to Lineker with plenty of praise for the West Ham defender, about whom he said: “I think we’ve got a player here who is playing out of his skin, I feel we’ve got a player who is playing on the left of a three, he can play left-back and he is one of West Ham’s most creative players.”
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Lineker and Jenas both represented England themselves and may well be onto something with Cresswell, although his last international callup came more than three years ago.
Jenas is right to give a nod towards the defender’s continued influence in an attacking sense, as despite a positional change, the long-serving Hammer is the club’s top assists provider with three in the league.
In truth, Cresswell has been a consistent performer for the east Londoners ever since his arrival from Ipswich Town back in 2014, so it seem surprising that he has only won three caps in the meantime.
The defender isn’t the only West Ham ace to be overlooked by the national team in recent times, with club captain Mark Noble constantly seeming to miss out regardless of performances throughout his career.
