England Under-21s will head into March’s Cyrille Regis International with Romania and a Euro qualifier against Ukraine with a 26-man squad.
Head coach Aidy Boothroyd has named his group for the home double-header, as the Young Lions look to strengthen their position in qualifying for next summer’s European Championships.
They currently sit on top of their group on the approach to the half-way point of the campaign, following four successive wins after an opening game draw with the Netherlands in September.
First up will see them face Romania at Wolves’ Molineux on Saturday 24 March, in the Cyrille Regis International.
As a tribute to the former England, West Bromwich Albion and Wolves striker who passed away earlier this year, wreaths from all four of his clubs and the FA will be placed on the pitch along with a minute’s applause to celebrate his contribution to football in England and the Midlands.
That match will lead into the Euro qualifier with Ukraine at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane on Tuesday 27 March, when Boothroyd’s team will be looking to complete a double over their visitors following November’s 2-0 win in Kiev.
And Boothroyd has been able to call upon a squad featuring plenty of experience from the campaign so far, as well as two new faces in the shape of Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon who has previously featured with the U19s this season and Liverpool's Ovie Ejaria who was part of the U20 World Cup-winning squad last summer.
There’s also a return to the squad for Spurs midfielder Harry Winks after he missed November’s game through injury, while striker Tammy Abraham is back in the group after featuring in the senior squad last time out.
“It’s been a good start to our new Euro campaign," said Boothroyd, ahead of his squad’s meet-up at St. George’s Park next week.
"We’ve got 13 points from the five games, a five-point lead at the top of our group and after analysing all of those games from different areas, we still think we could be better, so that’s a real positive.
"We’ll now be working hard to make sure we keep improving on our games so far and we’ve got two matches this month against Romania and Ukraine to try and do that."
Boothroyd is also honoured that his squad will be able to pay their own tribute to Regis too, at the first game with Romania.
"My first memory of Cyrille was buying the ‘101 Great Goals’ video on Betamax and watching this brilliant, powerful player hand-off defenders before smashing the ball from 30-yards into the top corner," he revealed.
"He was a fantastic footballer and he broke the ground for a lot of other black players to come through and play in the English leagues. I met him and got to know him a little later on in life when I went into management and he was working in football and I always found him to be a real gentleman."
Brendon Batson, an equality and inclusion consultant for The FA, added: “I’m delighted this game has been named in honour of Cyrille.
“He was a great footballer, but an even greater guy. I spent a lot of time with him, our families grew up together and he was always great to be around. “We'll all look back in time and realise how blessed we are to have known him. I will miss him. We will all miss him.”
Tickets for both games are on sale now, priced at £10 for adults and £5 for concessions with a group booking discount also available. Find out more on how you can buy tickets for the Romania fixture and Ukraine fixture.
The Squad
Goalkeepers
Harry Burgoyne - Wolverhampton Wanderers
Angus Gunn - Norwich City (loan from Manchester City)
Dean Henderson - Shrewsbury Town (loan from Manchester United)
Freddie Woodman - Aberdeen (loan from Newcastle United)
Defenders
Trent Alexander-Arnold – Liverpool
Ben Chilwell – Leicester City
Jake Clarke-Salter – Sunderland (loan from Chelsea)
Dael Fry - Middlesbrough
Mason Holgate - Everton*
Jonjoe Kenny – Everton
Ryan Sessegnon - Fulham
Fikayo Tomori – Hull City (loan from Chelsea)
Kyle Walker-Peters – Tottenham Hotspur
Joe Worrall – Nottingham Forest
Midfielders
Tom Davies – Everton
Kieran Dowell – Nottingham Forest (loan from Everton)
Ovie Ejaria - Sunderland (loan from Liverpool)
Ainsley Maitland-Niles – Arsenal
Josh Onomah – Aston Villa (loan from Tottenham Hotspur)
Harry Winks – Tottenham Hotspur*
Forwards
Tammy Abraham – Swansea City (loan from Chelsea)
Dominic Calvert-Lewin – Everton
Demarai Gray - Leicester City
Jack Harrison – Middlesbrough (loan from Manchester City)*
Ademola Lookman – RB Leipzig (loan from Everton)
James Maddison – Norwich City
Dominic Solanke – Liverpool
