England U-17 Discussions Thread #3 (2009 born)

England men’s under-17s

England v Venezuela
MU17 International
2pm, Wednesday 3 September 2025
Leichtathletikstadion, Duisburg, Germany

Israel v England
MU17 International
2pm, Saturday 6 September 2025
Leichtathletikstadion, Duisburg, Germany

Germany v England
MU17 International
10am, Tuesday 9 September 2025
Sportschule Wedau, Duisburg, Germany

Squad announcement: 5pm, Friday 29 August 2025

 

Interested to see who's picked in this squad because there potentially could be quite a few absences.

If we look at the last squad for this age group:

Greenwood, Ebho, Wilkinson, Lawrie & Hardy all haven't played or trained properly for a while due to their respective moves undergoing PL checks. Of course they could still be selected, so we'll see.

Then Stachow has been called up by Poland, Higgins I'm assuming is injured as he hasn't played this season, Monga could be moved up an age group (Kavuma-McQueen wouldn't suprise me either) & Watson is currently with the U16s so not sure he'll get a call up again so soon.

Other regulars like Holland & Mills are injured (Mills is, Holland not 100% sure) & Cadamarteri is with Scotland.

So it wouldn't suprise me if we saw a couple new faces.

 

He captained England U15 last year but didn't feature at U16 level. Is he the brother of Harry Moran at Liverpool?

He is not the only 2009 goalkeeper from England they have selected, George Moloney of Southampton also attended camps at SGP.

Is he the best central defender England have in this year group?

Would be nice if England could actually play the best talents developed in our system though. If I'm not mistaken both Noubissie and Samba grew up here, the latter Captain for both U15 and U16 teams. Better they depart now than the likes of Musiala or Nmecha staying around until U21 level I guess.

Half expected Watson to be in this U17 squad as he didn't look out of place at Montaigu imo. Assume his Chelsea teammate Nicoll-Jazuli (also 2010 born) will be selected.

If Leicester aren't going to release Monga for World Cup in Qatar perhaps he should just be left to play qualifiers for this team. Hopefully those who have made transfers will be up to speed for competitive fixtures in October, which will presumably include facing Cadamarteri as I don't doubt Scotland will drop him back down...

Apparently Jashayde Greenwood (one of those making a transfer) was in the Cardiff academy at one point.

 

Is he the best central defender England have in this year group?

Compared to the other central defenders that have been called up for this group so far I'd say yes as of now. Also liked the defender from City. We might see a call-up for Reuben Gokah tomorrow who has established himself as a starting cb for EvertonU18's in their recent fixtures.

 

The Squad

Goalkeepers: Roman Dowell (Newcastle United), George Mair (Newcastle United), Ben Vickery (Manchester City)

Defenders: Liam Balmer (Liverpool), Marlow Barrett (Manchester City), Calvin Diakite (Chelsea), Reuben Gokah (Everton), Josiah King (Arsenal), Oscar Sandiford (Tottenham Hotspur), Archie Thornton (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Sam Alabi (Newcastle United), Mathis Eboue (Chelsea), Erik Farkas (Liverpool), Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli (Chelsea), Malik Olayiwola (Everton), Floyd Samba (Manchester City), Fraser Widdop (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Forwards: Oliver Boast (Tottenham Hotspur), Joel Drakes-Thomas (Crystal Palace), Ryan Kavuma-McQueen (Chelsea), Brian Madjo (FC Metz), Jeremy Monga (Leicester City), Ajay Tavares (Norwich City)

 

So Brian Madjo is in,

 

Looks like some of the guys on the Dual thread were correct about Madjo from Metz. Got to say I’ve never seen him but gather he must be pretty good?

 

Vickery is another interesting one. Scottish international, just signed from Hibs.

 

I would have thought the defender from Arsenal would have been in, can’t remember his name but a lot of hype about him being the new Saliba.

 

Wasn´t Samba supposed to be with Germany? Would have liked to see Teddi Lamb but pretty strong roster overall especially with the additions of some interesting duals. Wonder if Leicester might want to withhold Monga though

 

Good shout

 

Marli Salmon is who you're thinking of.

 

Yeah, that’s the kid. Think he’s only 15 isn’t he so maybe with the U16’s.

Edit: just checked the under 16’s and wasn’t with them so maybe injured or just over looked I don’t know

 

He is an '09 and actually 16 today. Weird he hasn't been called up.

 

On this, Scotland also named him in their U17 squad..

 

What’s the deal with him? Is he English with Scottish heritage or Scottish with English heritage?

 

The latter, I think.

 

Ben vickery and Brian Mario just posted on insta stories of England squad .. looks like Vickery chosen England this time round

 

Must be the first time we have a dual that’s essentially Scottish but chosen England ( so far ) due to heritage. Well can’t think of another….

 

Is Vickery 15 or 16 years old? I've seen different reports.

 

There's obviously quite a lot of Scottish people of English heritage (Andy Murrray and Nicola Sturgeon being notable non footballing examples), I'd imagine the FA just doesn't know or bother pursuing them.
Obviously not quite the same as he was born in England and moved at one but Karamoko Dembélé at the time was very big.

 

16 (or 15 with a birthday in the next 2 days).

 

Both of those have north east England roots which I think Ben Vickery has as well as he follows a lot of Sunderland FC linked accounts.

 

Good internet stalking!

 

Just looking at some clips of Brian Madjo, I've not seen many u17s with that level of physicality up against men.