The striker was the Young Lions’ goalscorer last Wednesday during the 1-1 draw with Holland in the final, but following a dramatic 4-1 victory on penalties to crown England champions, the 16-year-old had little time to celebrate.
The Chelsea youngster was preparing for an English Literature exam the next morning – but with the whole successful Under-17 squad and staff invited to parade the trophy around the pitch pre-match at England v Peru, Solanke says he is looking forward to a “special moment”.
Speaking to TheFA.com, Solanke said: “I’ll be there at Wembley. That’ll be a great moment and when it will hit home. It will be great to see all the lads again, we achieved so much together, so it’ll be great to get together and watch the seniors.
"We were all up quite late on the night after the game celebrating, but I knew I had my exam so I had to cut it short to go get a bit of extra revision in"
Dominic Solanke
“Not many of us have seen a proper England game or been to Wembley, so to parade the trophy around will be very special and I’m looking forward to it.”
The last month has been hard work for Solanke, and not only on the pitch. In addition to his training and match preparation, he also had several study sessions for his GCSEs – but he is confident he has aced it.
Speaking of his post-match experience, he said: “It was really surreal and we were all up quite late on the night after the game celebrating, but I knew I had my exam so I had to cut it short to go get a bit of extra revision in and get a good sleep ahead of it.
“I had to fly back separately from the rest of the squad but I think it went well the next morning. It was an English Literature exam about poetry, but I’d done a lot of revision so fingers crossed it has gone alright as my exams are important to me.
He continued: “It could have been difficult to balance everything whilst I was in Malta, as I had a Biology exam whilst I was there too along with Sam Howes, but the support we received from the staff and players was brilliant.
“We had an education officer out with the team to help us and take us for studying sessions, and this made it a lot easier and helped me to get the right balance between football and revision.
“Now that we’ve won this, I’ve got some more studying to do as I’ve still got three exams left, and I want to do well as they are important. But after I’ve finished them I’m looking forward to having a good rest over the summer and come back stronger next season.
“Once it comes to pre-season, I’ll be back working hard and try and carry on where I left off.”
“I’ll be there at Wembley. That’ll be a great moment and when it will hit home"
Dominic Solanke
The Euro success came just three weeks after Solanke’s goals had fired Chelsea to The FA Youth Cup, but following his exploits in Malta, he came home with another accolade as well as memories to last a life time.
“It was a fantastic achievement,” he said. “When that final penalty went in we were all buzzing, you could see how much it meant to us all.
“When we first got together at St. George’s Park before we came out, we were all focused on winning it – but for us to achieve that, it was fantastic.
“And personally, for me to get the top goalscorer award, it just made it even better. That’s what I love doing, scoring goals. There were a lot of talented players at the tournament who could score goals, so it was a great achievement for me to get that award.”
And scoring goals is something Solanke relishes. He added: “I like playing in big games and scoring in them is even better. It’s a great feeling. The whole team did really well though, and I could not have done as well without them. I was just the lucky one that ended up on the scoresheet.
“As I say, I like to think I’m a big game player and to score the goals that helped Chelsea win The FA Youth Cup, it’s a dream come true – then to go and score in the Euro final for my country was even better. It has been an incredible couple of weeks.”
The England Under-17 squad will be parading the European Championship trophy around the pitch prior to England v Peru on Friday at Wembley Stadium. Tickets for the match are available here.
