PEP PLEA OVER PHIL

“We have to push on. People who innovate stay ahead. So we will review this tournament and find out what we could have done a bit better and find out what we have done well.

“Then we’ll put the foot flat to the floor with Spain in six weeks’ time and attack the next tournament. At Euro PEP GUARDIOLA can help England take their game to the next level – if he picks starlet Phil Foden next season.

That’s the view of FA technical director Dan Ashworth, who wants Foden to get more Premier League game time to accelerate his development.

England’s failure to go one step further at the World Cup has been blamed on not having a Luka Modricstyle playmaker.

Manchester City teenage midfielder

Wembley and we’ve got potentially two or three group games.

“We have to qualify first and there are some good countries and some good teams. We kick off our Nations League games in six weeks, which is another route to qualification. But we wouldn’t Foden (right) scored twice as England Under-17s won the FIFA World Cup against Spain in India last year.

He made three starts in 10 appearances for City last season but is yet to start a Premier League match.

Ashworth said: “Obviously that’s up to Pep. He’s the manager of Man City.

“If he feels that Phil Foden is good enough to help him win some football matches, Phil will play.

“Pre-season is quite often an

Although the next Euros are predominantly on home turf, Ashworth is not keen to big-up England’s chances.

He said: “History tells you the average age for a team winning the World Cup or European Championship is between 27 and 28.

“We are a bit young on that and a opportunity to show what you can do as a youngster. We had a similar situation last year with Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-arnold.

“They didn’t go with England Under-21s to the Euros in Poland.

“Instead they stayed with Liverpool, got in and stayed in and both played regularly last season.”