Tottenham midfielder called into England squad ahead of France Friendly

With news that Erik Lamela was held out of training with Argentina due to a "muscle issue" you could be forgiven for hoping that no other Spurs players would be drug into international action this week. Welp, sorry: The thigh tattoo has been called up:

.@RyanMason has been added to the @england squad for tomorrow's friendly against @equipedefrance at @wembleystadium. pic.twitter.com/cYNC1p9Obn

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 16, 2015

One way of looking at it, of course, is that Ryan Mason's call-up is part of a promising development at Spurs. Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has had ten players he developed make their England debuts. It's obviously great for the club's recruitment of future young players that he continues to send players to the Three Lions as well as other international teams. Though this is only speculation, it's not hard to imagine that part of the reason Dele Alli signed with Spurs rather than the other clubs chasing his signature is Pochettino's remarkable record with player development.

Of course, there's an obvious downside to the call-up too: It's for a basically meaningless friendly. Mason may have his detractors amongst his fan base (I'm one of them) but he's still an essential part of our squad, particularly as we head toward the festive schedule and the FA Cup matches in January while also attempting to compete in the Europa League. We have a lot of fixtures coming up in the near future and we need more than Dier, Mousa Dembele, and Dele Alli available for those games. So please don't get hurt, Ryan.