Boothroyd: Golden age for Under-21s

AIDY BOOTHROYD believes there has never been a better time to be an England Under-21 player.

Tonight’s friendly against Germany in Wiesbaden is Boothroyd’s first match since he succeeded Gareth Southgate as manager of the Under-21s on a permanent basis.

Southgate stepped up to lead the senior team and in Germany on Wednesday handed international debuts to Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond, players he worked closely with at Under-21 level. Boothroyd says those promotions show his squad there are opportunities.

“I said to the players the other day, there’s no better time to be an England player or an Under-21 player,” said Boothroyd (right). “You’ve got a manager now who is willing to give you the opportunity and he knows all the players really well.

“Redmond and Ward-Prowse deserved it as they’re playing really well for their club and making cup finals, so hopefully they can continue that progress.

“It’s very competitive, we’ve got some good players in all age groups and the fact we’ve had some players move up from the younger age groups into the Under-21s shows we’ve got some real talent.”

Germany and Denmark, who England face on Monday, have both qualified along with England for the Under-21 European Championship in Poland this June.

“We want to play the best and we want to prepare for the tournament properly,” Boothroyd told the FA website. “We know the Germans will be one of the favourites this summer, but then so are the Danes. We want to rival all of the top nations and we know what the benchmarks are.”

BT Sport 2, 7pm