The up and coming lads ready to step up into big time

In many ways, England DNA, the technical revolution intended to overhaul coaching education and player development within English football, has already succeeded. English players are getting chances in top-flight football earlier. If that isn’t in the Premier League, they have the empowerment to seek regular minutes abroad.

At under-21s level, success that was long overdue. Prior to 2023, England had been eliminated after the group stage in five of the previous six European Championships.This wasn’t necessarily a question of talent, simply opportunity. Those players picked for major tournaments had precious little high-level experience in comparison with peers abroad.

Last summer, that changed. Not only did Lee Carsley lead England to their first under-21s title since 1984, he did so with a team full of players who had already made strides at Premier League level.

Four of the starting XI in the European Championship final against Spain have already made their senior England debut. Others – Morgan Gibbs-White, James Garner, James Trafford, Angel Gomes, Curtis Jones

– are established regulars in top-flight football.

For their qualifier in Bolton on Tuesday evening, Lee Carsley had lost two players to the senior team to cover for injuries. There were already four players in Gareth Southgate’s squad who still qualify for the under-21s. Carsley made a number of changes to rotate ahead of a gentle home fixture and there is still a quarter of the domestic season left.

Yet Carsley’s starting team on Tuesday had made 116 top-flight appearances this season. The strength in depth is such that Adam Wharton was a late call-up to this squad and he joined Crystal Palace in the January transfer window for £18m. There are still gaps, notably at centre forward and left-back, but the future is bright and the players know it. With the England senior team likely to face an evolution postEuros, particularly if Southgate leaves his position, we pick six names from the current under-21s crop who have a chance of making the step up next.

Harvey Elliott

It is faintly ridiculous that there were 13 players in Carsley’s squad that are older than Elliott. He has played 154 senior matches and plays with a swagger at age-group level that makes him stick out above all others.

The stumbling block is evidently his favoured position as an advanced midfielder, given that Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham may operate in similar roles. But if the substitute appearances become starts for Liverpool (only six in the league this season), Elliott (left) will

soon break into the squad.

Noni Madueke

Bukayo Saka isn’t going to lose his grip on his starting role, but this international break has proven that there is no standout candidate to be his back-up. Jarrod Bowen often plays centrally for West Ham (although is Southgate’s second choice for now) and Raheem Sterling is out of favour. Madueke (far left) now has 20 caps and seven goals at under-21 level, having scored twice against Luxembourg on Tuesday. He needs to become Chelsea’s first-choice right winger first, but that might just happen next season if they are forced to curb their spending.

Jarell Quansah

A year ago, the only experience of senior football that Quansah had was during a loan spell at Bristol Rovers in League One.

Now he has Jürgen Klopp calling him “a pure joy” and referring to him as “Virgil 2.0”. Since then, he has continued to improve.

Further acceleration may depend upon Van Dijk staying or going, but Quansah is outrageously mature for a 21-year-old centre-back.

Archie Gray

The only Championship player on this list, but at just 18 Gray has been a key part of Leeds’ promotion charge and may well sign a second new contract in the space of several months to try and ward off the serious interest from a number of Premier League clubs this summer.

But if Leeds need to sell and Gray picks the right move, he could easily convert into an excellent defensive midfielder with a fine passing range having played there infrequently this season. He’s the real deal.

Tino Livramento

Not part of this squad because he isn’t playing much for Newcastle United, but there is a clear route to that changing, given that Livramento cost £32m.

Eddie Howe finally moves on from Dan Burn at the start of next season, and pairs Kieran Trippier at right-back with Livramento on the left. He helps Newcastle progress from a sluggish 2023-24 and, when Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell are injured, he steps up into the seniors.

Adam Wharton

Included here because his best position is England’s current weakness. Wharton (left) can play as a box-to-box midfielder, but he is just as comfortable taking the ball from central defenders and starting moves while breaking them up out of possession.

If that makes him like a left-footed Declan Rice at just 20 years old, we’re all for it. There’s still a rawness that must be ironed out at Crystal Palace – inevitable at his age – but he is going to get regular Premier League starts and made his under-21s debut on Tuesday.