The Boro born defender has impressed this season and proved his knockers wrong by proving his fitness and starting 22 games for Boro this season. That's more than double the games that he started for Real Madrid in two seasons.
Whether he gets to start is another matter as he has competition from John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Jamie Carragher, to name three. He will earn his sixth cap if he plays, the last one being against Sweden in 2004.
Stewart Downing is also included in Steve McClaren's squad and will hope to start on the left hand side having missed the last two games. It will be his tenth cap if he plays.