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Kasper Dolberg helped guide Ajax to the Europa League final last season. EMPICS Sport
Waiting Game

The Ajax starlet who lit up last season's Europa League is only on standby for Ireland-Denmark

Kasper Dolberg looks unlikely to feature against Martin O’Neill’s side.

Updated at 16.09

DENMARK HAVE NAMED their squad for next month’s World Cup qualification play-off with Ireland and there is one slight surprise.

Kasper Dolberg is only on the standby list for the game, with the player named in his country’s U21 side as it stands.

The 20-year-old striker grabbed headlines amid a breakthrough season with Ajax last year. He scored 23 goals in all competitions, including six in a memorable Europa League run that saw the Dutch team go all the way to the final of the competition, before ultimately being beaten by Jose Mourinho’s Man United 2-0 in the climactic game of their campaign.

Dolberg is widely regarded as one of the most promising strikers in Europe and has in the past been compared to former Ajax great Marco van Basten.

His omission from the provisional Danish squad seems surprising, as he has been part of their qualifying campaign, scoring in the win over Kazakhstan last June and featuring off the bench in their 1-1 draw with Romania earlier this month.

The decision, however, is perhaps less of a surprise when you consider that Dolberg has struggled to recapture the form of 2016-17 in recent times. He has scored just twice in 11 appearances in all competitions since the new campaign began.

Elsewhere, 26-year-old Feyenoord striker Nicolai Jorgensen returns to the squad having recovered from injury, while Real Betis left-back Riza Durmisi is out with a hamstring problem.

Denmark squad to face Ireland below:

Goalkeepers

Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester)
Frederik Rønnow (Brondby)
Jonas Lössl (Huddersfield)

Defenders

Andreas Bjelland (Brentford)
Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)
Henrik Dalsgaard (Brentford)
Jannik Vestergaard (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Jens Stryger Larsen (Udinese)
Mathias ’Zanka’ Jørgensen (Huddersfield)
Peter Ankersen (Copenhagen)
Simon Kjær (Sevilla)

Midfielders

Lukas Lerager (Bordeaux)
Lasse Schöne (Ajax)
Christian Eriksen (Tottenham)
Mike Jensen (Rosenborg)
Pione Sisto (Celta Vigo)
Thomas Delaney (Werder Bremen)
William Kvist (Copenhagen)

Attackers

Andreas Cornelius (Atalanta)
Nicklas Bendtner (Rosenborg)
Nicolai Jørgensen (Feyenoord)
Viktor Fischer (Mainz)
Yussuf Poulsen (RB Leipzig)

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