England manager Gareth Southgate knows he can still call on Gary Cahill, Jamie Vardy and Ashley Young if required.
Southgate named his squad on Thursday for the upcoming matches against Spain in the UEFA Nations League and Switzerland in a friendly, with the experienced trio of Cahill, Vardy and Young the notable absentees from the party that travelled to the World Cup.
Both Vardy and Cahill have spoken this week about stepping down from international duty in order to concentrate on prolonging their club careers while Young’s revitalised Manchester United team-mate Luke Shaw has taken his place in the squad.
"We had some conversations with Gary, Jamie and Ashley over the summer and we're pleased that all three want to remain available," said Southgate as he talked to the media about his selections.
"All three don't have an ego and don't need to make a big announcement about retirement.
"We know that if we have big qualifiers where experience is going to be key we have all three that we can call on."
It is testament to the players involved that they have not seen the need to 'retire' from international football (as others of less substance have done in the past) but also to Southgate's man-management that they haven’t done so.