England U21s squad named for games with Poland and Germany on home soil

England U21s will host Poland and Germany in March as they resume preparations for this summer’s U21 EURO Finals.

Young Lions head coach Aidy Boothroyd has named his squad for the games, which kick-off against the Poles at Ashton Gate in Bristol on Thursday 21 March before they head south to Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium to face Germany the following Tuesday.

The majority of the group who helped Boothroyd’s squad top their qualification table to secure their place at June’s Finals are all named in the 26-strong group.

There’s a return for Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury, who was last involved in the successful trip to the Toulon Tournament in France last summer.

Boothroyd and his squad will meet up on Sunday, when they will be based in the south-west in the build-up to their first game.

“It’s an exciting time again, getting the boys back together to put in some preparation for the Euros and obviously two really good games this week against teams who could be our competitors in the summer,” said Boothroyd.

“Both Poland and Germany will give us a really good test.

“Any team that qualifies for the U21 EURO Finals has to be respected, because it’s no mean feat getting there.

“You can see from the standard of the countries that are heading to Italy in June, they’re all top teams, so these will be difficult games.”

Former England defender Joleon Lescott, who is loan team coach at Manchester City, will also work alongside Boothroyd’s coaching staff as part of an elite coach placement programme, a partnership with The FA and PFA that is designed to provide under-represented groups with coaching opportunities within the England set-up.

The game in Bournemouth is now sold out, but tickets remain available for the game with Poland at Ashton Gate.

The squad

Goalkeepers: Freddie Woodman (Newcastle United), Angus Gunn (Southampton), Dean Henderson (Sheffield United, loan from Manchester United)

Defenders: Jake Clarke-Salter (Vitesse, loan from Chelsea), Jay Dasilva (Bristol City, loan from Chelsea), Dael Fry (Middlesbrough), Lloyd Kelly (Bristol City), Jonjoe Kenny (Everton), Ezri Konsa (Brentford), Fikayo Tomori (Derby County, loan from Chelsea), Kyle Walker-Peters (Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders: Harvey Barnes (Leicester City), Hamza Choudhury (Leicester City), Tom Davies (Everton), Kieran Dowell (Sheffield United, loan from Everton), Phil Foden (Manchester City), James Maddison (Leicester City), Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham)

Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Demarai Gray (Leicester City), Ademola Lookman (Everton), Reiss Nelson (Hoffenheim, loan from Arsenal), Dominic Solanke (AFC Bournemouth)

Changes

Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea) joined senior squad on Monday 18 March.