Town defender Axel Tuanzebe has been named in the DR Congo squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Senegal and Togo next month.
The Congolese take on the Senegalese in Dakar on Thursday 6th June and then the Togolese in Kinshasa three days later.
Tuanzebe, 26, is yet to win his first cap for the country of his birth having switched international allegiance in March from England, where he grew up, for whom he had played at U19, U20 and U21 levels.
DR Congo are currently third in their qualification group, a point behind both leaders Senegal and Sudan in second, having won one and lost one of their opening two fixtures. The winners go directly through to the World Cup finals and the runners-up into a play-off.
Tuanzebe joined the Blues in September having been released by Manchester United at the end of 2022/23.
The centre-half or right-back, whose contract is up this summer but with the Blues having an option for a further season, made 19 starts and three sub appearances for Town last season, scoring once.
Tuanzebe is the player with by far the most Premier League experience in the current Blues squad having made 28 appearances in the top flight, 19 for the Red Devils and nine for Aston Villa.