England U-18 Discussions Thread (2008 born)

@roverman has he been getting any game time this season at Blackburn, is he far away from a break through?

On the face of it doesn't seem like a great move

 

The report is from Alan Nixon who seems to be well connected at Blackburn - he says that he would be getting more first team chances if he signs a new contract.

Nixon very much a mouthpiece for Blackburn though as well

 

He's not played at all hardly this season

 

Tynan Thompson is currently joint top scorer in the UEFA Youth League, Thompson got a hat-trick today, Williams-Barnett got 5.

LWB doing LWB things ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/uhQrXkw49B

— Lilywhite Rose (@Lilywhite_Rose) December 9, 2025

 

Given Slavia beat Arsenal 5-1 last month, that's a very good result by Spurs!

 

All the goals and some highlights here

 

Grouped with Croatia, Spain and Bulgaria in 1st round qualifying for the 2027 U19 Euros

 

How did we get Spain and Croatia in first round qualifying? Sounds tougher than usual….

 

Apparently Croatia will be hosting. Assume like England, it'll basically be their squad that played at U17 World Cup in Qatar last month.

Yeah seems U19 qualifying now starts in Spring with half the nations in League A and the other half in League B so groups can look tougher now.
Plus, of the potential opponents in third pot, England got the strongest option in Spain.

Although in round1, only have to avoid finishing last and you progress to round2.
Same for round2 (played in October/November), don't end bottom of your group and you make round3.
Although obviously whether you finish first, runner-up or third place has consequences for what pot you end up in.
However not finishing top3, in second round, means not progressing to March and elimination.

Third (last) round in Spring 2027 is basically same as previous format. 7 winners from 7 groups will join the hosts at UEFA tournament.

 

Man Utd have tabled a £450k bid for Sheffield Wednesday's teenage defender Yisa Alao. - Daily Mail

 

I’ve honestly never heard of him, has he been in the English set up before and is he highly rated? Not trying to diminish his first start for Wednesday but don’t they have to pick youth players due to their lack of senior players due to their terrible situation?

 

Florian Plattenberg: Bayer 04 among other clubs interested in Harry Howell

 

It'd be peak Premier League for a youth-obsessed club to lose their best academy product on god knows how long as a result of blocking their pathway by signing big money teenagers from elsewhere.

Seriously though is his contract up this summer or something? Surely there's no way Brighton let him go unless the player is really pushing for it.

 

He is contracted until June 2028 (plus the club may well have an additional one-year option, they often do).

 

Probably to do with this:

🚨 Brighton’s academy scouting manager Matthew Green is leaving his role after 5 years #BHAFC

He is set to join #Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen as ‘Head of UK and Emerging Talents’

Goes on good terms + starts new role this week #bayer04 #werkself pic.twitter.com/pkZAkru7rO

— TheSecretScout (@TheSecretScout_) August 14, 2023

 

Manchester Untied are hoping to beat Arsenal to signing Blackburn Rovers and England youth international Igor Tyjon, 17. (Sun) , external

 

Harry Gray to Rotherham on loan until the end of the season. Very interesting.

 

Get a bet on him scoring ten or more goals.

 

I struggle to be interested in Gray’s progress given he openly supports Scotland and will probably end up playing for them.

 

Rotherham are very poor at creating chances so could potentially be feeding off scraps. Hopefully he can stay fit for the 6 months as he’s had a fair few injuries the past few years.

I get the impression he’ll play for the nation which suites his ability best. Should he turn out to be this fantastic striker I have no doubt he will play for England, if he’s struggling to get in or around the squad I can see him represent Scotland.

 

The fact that he's hasn't put on the Scotland shirt so far suggests so. Loads of dual-nationals are playing for two or more nations at youth level these days.

 

If he does score a few for Rotherham this season I wouldn't be surprised to see Scotland offer Gray a place in their World Cup squad. A 26-man squad always has throwaway places even for bigger teams, but a side like Scotland are highly unlikely to use more than 18-19 players in a tournament. I don't think a good League One player is below the level of a few of their senior players either.

If anything I think they'd be stupid not to try it. They aren't producing enough talent atm not to throw the kitchen sink at dual national options like this, even if the player is incredibly green. Getting in there early is always going to be their best chance of recruiting these types of players.

 

Steve Clarke did that with Tommy Conway and now doesn’t call him up anymore.