Winning the European Championships for the first time since 1984 is all the England Under-21s are thinking about, as they prepare to face Spain on Saturday.
With Gareth Southgate flying to Batumi, Georgia to watch Lee Carsley’s side in the Adjarabet Arena — England’s first final at this level since 2009 — at least one player might allow his mind to wonder, because an England seniors call-up is a very realistic prospect.
When Southgate’s England waltzed past Malta 4-0 and North Macedonia 7-0 in their Euro 2024 qualifying double-header last month, all the talk was about Levi Colwill’s promotion to train with the seniors and travel with them to Valletta before joining up with the U21s team late.
After the U21s’ final pre-Euros warm-up match at St George’s Park, Southgate approached Colwill and invited him to make up numbers in training after Lewis Dunk dropped out of the squad through injury.
“I’ve been lucky, haven’t I?” Colwill said at the time. “Training with them was a bit of a surprise. I didn’t know about it until the day before. It was a dream come true.”
The 20-year-old centre-back is set for a prominent role under Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea next season, and Brighton were so impressed by his loan spell with them last term that they tried to land him with a £30million bid, which was rejected.
If he helps England to historic silverware tomorrow and forces his way into the reckoning at Stamford Bridge, Southgate could well be back in touch in the autumn to call Colwill up to the seniors.
The aerially dominant Colwill has formed a critical part of England’s defence. His centre-back partner has been Manchester City’s much-courted Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who spent last season on loan at Championship winners Burnley.
Behind them, all of England’s outfield players are indebted to goalkeeper James Trafford, another City academy product whose string of elastic saves at the tournament mean he is on the brink of a £19m move to Burnley.
There have been standout performers further forward, too. The ex-Manchester United midfielder Angel Gomes has been rejuvenated since his 2020 move to Lille and is excelling in the middle of the park for Carsley’s side.
His midfield partner and England’s most influential player, Jacob Ramsey, flew home after injuring himself in the quarter-final win over Portugal but Curtis Jones, of Liverpool, was man of the match when slotting into that role in Wednesday’s 3-0 semi-final thrashing of Israel.
Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Emile Smith Rowe have rotated out wide and all made an impact, while a fluid front two of Anthony Gordon and Morgan Gibbs-White has proven a nightmare to defend against — with Aston Villa’s Cameron Archer scoring two from four appearances off the bench.
Carsley’s team have been exceptional, and there is a certain symmetry in the fact they now face Spain — the same nation they beat 39 years ago when last lifting this trophy.
The Young Lions beat the Czech Republic, Israel and Germany in the group stage, before knocking out Portugal and beating Israel again to reach the final.
Spain are the leading scorers in the tournament with 13 goals, and a team featuring Manchester City’s Sergio Gomez and Chelsea and Liverpool target Gabri Veiga booked their spot in the final by beating Ukraine 5-1.
Victory for England would offer the latest vindication for the investment in St George’s Park, after winning the U19 Euros and U17 and U20 World Cups in 2017, and the U19 Euros again last summer.
By any metric, it looks set to be a tense and tight final, but confidence could scarcely be higher within the England camp right now.
“I still think we’ve still got a lot of improving to do”, Carsley insisted. “There’s still another level for this team to go.”
