Jake Clarke-Salter will captain England U21s at the 2019 UEFA European U21 Championship this summer.
The Chelsea defender, who spent last season on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, has been a regular in the Young Lions squad throughout the qualification campaign and has previously captained England at U19 level as well as being part of the Young Lions squad who won the U20 World Cup in 2017.
And he will now lead Aidy Boothroyd's squad at the tournament in Italy as England kick-off their campaign against France on Tuesday 18 June in Cesena, before facing Romania [21 June] and Croatia [24 June] in their remaining Group C games.
“It’s a massive honour for me to captain England at such a big tournament like this," said Carshalton-born Clarke-Salter, who has also spent time out on loan with Bristol Rovers and Sunderland in recent years.
"When I look at the players who have played in the U21 Euros, along with the quality of the squad we have now, it’s such a proud feeling to be named captain. It’s a big responsibility to lead the team and make sure we keep our standards as high as we expect them to be on and off the pitch.
“We know we have a big job to do over the next couple of weeks if we want to achieve the success we hope and believe we can at the Euros. We’ve got a lot of natural leaders in the team and a lot of talent and we’re going to do everything we can to try and win this tournament.”
Clarke-Salter and his team-mates helped England qualify for the Euros for a record seventh-consecutive time this term as they now look to go one better than 2017, where they lost in the semi-final on penalties to eventual winners Germany.
Fancy making the trip out to Italy to watch the Young Lions? Tickets are still available now for all of the group games for England Supporters Travel Club members. If not, England’s matches are all live on Sky Sports with coverage of England v France from 7.30pm BST (8pm BST KO) on Sky Sports Football.
