Nacer Chadli backs Tottenham team-mate Harry Kane for England call
Nacer Chadli has backed Harry Kane for a senior England call-up despite admitting he had never heard of the young striker before joining Tottenham.
The 21-year-old has been in fine form in recent months and his free-kick winner at Aston Villa on Sunday was his seventh goal in his last seven games and eighth of the season.
He has also scored six goals in nine England Under-21 appearances and has helped Gareth Southgate's side to reach Euro 2015.
Roy Hodgson's senior side host Slovenia in a European Qualifier before a friendly in Scotland in two weeks and Chadli believes his team-mate deserves a place in the squad.
He said: "Why not? It is up to him and the manager of the national team. He has a lot of quality and he can have some impact in the game.
"He practises a lot of free kicks like that in training. He has a great shot and he still practises it. That is good, he is a young talented player. I am very happy for him and pleased for him that he made an impact."
But the Belgium international, who scored Tottenham's first goal in the 2-1 win at Villa Park, admitted he did not know who the Spurs academy graduate was when he arrived from Twente last year.
"When I came to Tottenham I had not heard of him. But I am used to training with him and I can see that he is a very talented man and I can see that he has a great future," he said.
Chadli and Kane netted in the final six minutes on Sunday as boss Mauricio Pochettino resisted calls to start the latter.
He has been the key man for Spurs in cup competitions, scoring a hat-trick against Asteras last month, but is yet to start in the Premier League this season.
And Chadli admitted Pochettino will find it hard to leave Kane out for the Europa League trip to Asteras on Thursday and Saturday's league visit of Stoke.
He said: "Everybody gets time to play as we play in the Europa League, in the Capital One Cup, the FA Cup soon and the Premier League, so there are a lot of competitions. Everybody gets to play minutes. So the manager has choices."