These are just a bit of fun I guess. Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Spain all range from 3-5 players. Holland probably could say they deserve more than 2 also. Maybe Rogers or Gelhardt could have been added ?
Yeah that’s fair enough and guess because we didn’t do well last years Euro’s our recognition will be less compared to others like France, Italy etc but the Dutch only have two could be debated.
De Ligt won't win, that award has never gone to the same player two years in a row. Mbappe was much better last year than he was the year he won the award and still didn't get it.
Probably will be de Ligt. Personal and leadership pov in a successful team. Think Kai Havertz should also come into the equation. Been performing in senior football for a little while now.
England players aged 22 & under: Alexander-Arnold Rashford Sancho Abraham Mount Foden Hudson-Odoi Nketiah Tomori Maddison Nelson Sessegnon Wan-Bissaka Lookman Gibbs-White Rice Chilwell Gomez Willock McNeil James Brewster Saka Greenwood Godfrey Who am I missing of top level talent that could play for the seniors within a few years of the U21’s? Just been looking at some our our talents that someone put up on twitter earlier and I know some are already involved with the seniors but I think we’re going to have something of a logjam in our U21’s in the near future and could make them very strong as once these players get past the U21’s, it’s going to be tough for the younger generations to get past them ( hopefully ). Having a U21 squad full of young Premier League level players not being able to break into the senior set up, similar to the way France, Germany and Spain etc do things unless your an exceptional talent or in a position that we are thin in quality like defensive midfield for example. Someone like Reece James could easily become first choice right back for Chelsea very soon but only playing for the U21’s for the foreseeable future. That would have been unheard of a few years ago but will make us stronger without the need to be promoted due to TAA, Trippier, AWB, Walker already seniors and not even mentioned Aarons who will be competing with James. Obviously right back is a very strong position but hopefully other positions will follow suit so we have a greater strength in depth. I guess a downside would be that we might lose more Dual National players as other Nations can give them senior football a lot quicker. Does anyone else see this sort of thing happening or is it just wishful thinking on my part?
I expect the general level of U21 player to be much higher than in the past. Basically a post-2000 effect. 99 + 98 has some talent but it feels like the depth of 2000 onwards is on another level. We’ve been pretty bad at keeping players in the U21s for long in recent years. Either they drop out because of club stuff or they are promoted too early. Would be nice if someone like Guehi is there for 4 years. The Milner 46 cap record is obviously a freak, but we didn’t get anyone near 30 in the last campaign. Gray was mid 20s and he was the type of player who, like Redmond before him, was lucky to keep his spot by the end. If the Redmond or Gray of this group is Reiss Nelson, then in itself, that shows the step forward that’s been taken. Gomes, Smith-Rowe, Bogle, Aarons, Panzo, Guehi, Brewster would be guys who I’d expect to be capped in this cycle and still possibly be there in 2023.
It seems a lot of posters want to replace players with the youngsters and write them off once they get to about 25 so we need to keep producing talent!!
Nothing wrong whatsoever with having a strong and experienced U21 squad for 3-4 years, especially with a competitive senior squad. It only serves to improve the pipeline of talent coming through.
Would be nice in a few years time to add some players to the senior pool with 25+ under-21 caps and coming off the back of two successful tournaments.
Lewis Gibson is one of #EFC’s top young talents, but the club risk losing him for a relative pittance@TheAthleticUK has learned of interest in the defender from England, Scotland & the Bundesliga...https://t.co/OOasgZx3Yl— Patrick Boyland (@Paddy_Boyland) October 17, 2019
Premier League: English under-21 playing time hits 12-season high https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/50075436
Encouraging but the pessimism in me keeps saying wait until January and many Premier League teams will just go to the transfer market and buy players in from abroad thus limiting our young English players game time and we will see a decrease. I hope that’s not going to be the case though. On another note, if the data is correct, it must be a concern for Germany and Spain, which I found surprising.
Interesting to project that out to the 2022 wc, which ive always seen as our best chance for success. Thats when those figures will really hurt
I think the more players follow the lead of Sancho, the more the numbers will increase here as well, the number one thing on the minds of clubs is the bottom line, more teams will play their young players if only to protect themselves from a potential loss
A bit off topic but which countries could objectively be considered stronger than us in the U17 - U21 eligibility range?
It kind of depends, a lot more of the best players in that age range for other countries are playing against men regularly.