Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola is cheering on striker Dominic Solanke to grab a spot in the England squad for Euro 2024. Iraola insists Solanke is just as good as his rival English centre-forwards and hasn't lost hope of playing in the summer tournament.
Solanke has already scored 15 times in the Premier League before Bournemouth's game against Everton on Saturday. But he was left out of the March squad in favour of Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney.
Iraola believes Solanke, who played for England once in 2017, could make Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate think again about picking him for the Euros.
That's despite his only cap coming seven years ago in a friendly against Brazil, when the then Liverpool striker got just 15 minutes off the bench.
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The Cherries boss expects his No. 9 to "put pressure" on Southgate in the coming weeks as England mull over their final 23 for the tournament in Germany.
"I'm pretty sure he's not going to give up," said Iraola about Solanke wanting to play for England.
"He will try to push and put the pressure on the national team coach and try to make everything he can because I'm sure it's something that's important for him.
"But he's not selfish, he will do the work, he's not only thinking about the goals. He knows that if gives us the work and he helps us to play better he will have more chances and he will be closer to the goals.
"It's very difficult the job of Gareth Southgate. He has very, very good players available and whatever decision he takes someone is going to feel not in the best place.
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"England has top-level strikers, without even Harry Kane. You can put Ollie Watkins, you can put Ivan Toney, they are high-level players and I think Dom is there and is playing in at least this level."
Solanke claimed the first of Bournemouth's goals to spark an incredible 4-3 comeback win over Luton last time out. That stunning success on March 13 came after the Cherries were required to battle back from a two-goal deficit to salvage a draw 2-2 with bottom club Sheffield United in their previous match.
Iraola warned his team must break the trend of gifting opposition teams headstarts in the build-up to facing a stingy Everton side boasting one of the best defensive records in the division.
While Sean Dyche's 16th-placed Toffees have not won in the league since December 16, only title contenders Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City have conceded fewer goals than their tally of 39.
"It's a very good team with very good players," Iraola said of Everton. "If you look at the stats, the only teams conceding less than them are the three fighting for the title.
"It's true they are not scoring as many, they are getting a lot of ties. But they are playing well. It's going to be really difficult. We have to be at our very best because every goal will be even more important.
"We have to start much stronger than the last games at home if we want to have a chance. The first goal will be very, very important. We cannot give the advantages we gave against Luton to the next opponents, starting from Everton."
