Aidy Boothroyd believes his England Under-21s squad have a great opportunity to catch the eye as they build-up to this summer’s Euro Finals.
The Young Lions head to Germany today ahead of their game in Wiesbaden on Friday evening before moving on to face Denmark next Monday.
And with U21 regulars James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond earning their first senior caps in Wednesday’s game with Germany in Dortmund following their selection by Gareth Southgate, head coach Boothroyd believes there’s a chance for more of his charges to make the next step in the future.
“I said to the players the other day, there’s no better time to be an England player or an England U21s player,” said Boothroyd, whose squad have been training at St. George’s Park since Monday.
“You’ve got a manager [Gareth Southgate] now who is willing to give you the opportunity and he knows all the players really well.
“They [Redmond and Ward-Prowse] deserved it as they’re playing really well for their club and making cup finals, so hopefully they can continue that progress.
“It’s very competitive, we’ve got some good players in all age groups and the fact we’ve had some players move up from the younger age groups into the U21s shows we’ve got some real talent.”
Boothroyd stepped in as interim U21s boss last October following Southgate’s ascension to the senior set-up, to oversee the final stages of the squad’s qualification for the Euros.
And with both Boothroyd and Southgate now confirmed in their roles on a permanent basis, the U21s chief admits he’s been champing at the bit to get back on the training ground with his squad after a near four-month wait since the last game in November.
“You do crave for it, so to get everybody back now, I’m like a kid, and so happy to be back out on the pitch and working with the players again,” he revealed.
“We’ve got a group of players here who have earned the right to be where they are.
“Solly March, Cauley Woodrow and Jacob Murphy have been in the system before and now come back into it and I’m really pleased for Sam McQueen to be involved for the first time.
“They all have different pathways, sometimes they’ve got to go out to come back in, whether that means going out on loan or just to play football.”
With both the Germans and Danes also joining England at the Euros in Poland this June, this week’s double-header also offers Boothroyd’s team a real test of their credentials.
And he admits it’s exactly what the squad require after coming through on top of their qualification group before beating Italy and losing to France last November.
“We want to play the best and we want to prepare for the tournament properly,” explained the former Watford and Coventry City boss.
“We know the Germans will be one of the favourites next summer, but then so are the Danes because there’s only 12 teams in the Finals.
“So whoever can get their players, and whoever can keep them fit and keep them right, will have a chance of winning it.
“We want to rival all of the top nations and we know what the benchmarks are to reach that level.
“You need a really good opponent to test yourself and make sure you’re the best you can be and Germany have always been that at all age groups.”
