Phil Foden is expected to be a surprise omission from England’s opening game of the European Under-21 Championships against France on Tuesday night.
The Manchester City midfielder, heralded as one of the potential stars of the tournament and among England’s brightest young talents, is understood to be among the substitutes for the Group C opener in Cesena. Mason Mount, the Chelsea midfielder who excelled on loan at Derby County last season, is expected to start instead.
Aidy Boothroyd, the England head coach, has informed the squad of his plans and insisted on Monday that they had all accepted his decision.
Among other surprises is the inclusion of Dominic Solanke over Dominic Calvert-Lewin in attack. Solanke, Golden Ball winner at the under 20 World Cup in 2017, has scored several key goals in qualifying for England but had a disappointing Premier League campaign with Bournemouth and Liverpool.
Boothroyd, meanwhile, has said England’s hopes of winning will be on the line from the moment their tournament starts against France. Only the three group winners and the best runner-up qualify for the semi-finals in Italy and the England head coach warns there is no margin for error as a consequence. Boothroyd, bidding to lead England to the title for the first time since 1984, has warned his players there will be no gentle introduction to the competition in Cesena.
“It is knockout football from day one,” he said. “You don’t get the luxury of having a game to just assess things whether you win, lose or draw and then have the next game to accumulate some points. With this you are at it from the start. You know teams are going to need to attack to win the groups or claim the best runners-up spot. This is going to be one of the best Euros there’s ever been because of the quality of the teams in the tournament.”
England qualified for the Euros for a record seventh consecutive time whereas France, despite their impressive production line of talent, failed to reach the last six tournaments. Boothroyd believes they pose a formidable threat.
“France are one of the favourites. They are very gifted, strong, fast, very good on the break and in transition. [Moussa] Dembélé is obviously one of the stand-out players who we will look to stop and in [Lucas] Tousart, the captain, there is a solid, tough, competitive midfield player. I could go on because they have a lot of talented players. I expect it to be a really difficult game for us and for them.”
Jake Clarke‑Salter has been appointed England captain for the Euros. The 21-year-old Chelsea defender, who spent last season on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, says he will take inspiration from the former Stamford Bridge captain John Terry.
“John Terry is one of my idols and I look up to him a lot. I came through the academy at Chelsea and he would help me a lot with advice. I am very honoured and privileged to be able to captain this wonderfully talented side.”