BLUNDELL EYES LIONESSES BERTH AFTER NEXT GEN CALL

CHELSEA defender Hannah Blundell believes she’s closer to cracking the England squad than ever before after being called up for the first Next Gen squad earlier this month.

The new concept has replaced the Under-23s squad and will see some of the brightest prospects train alongside the senior set-up at St George’s Park at regular intervals.

Leading the Next Gen squad is England assistant coach Marieanne Spacey, who is able to dial a direct line to Mark Sampson should any particular players excel during the camps.

And Blundell – who was joined in the 17-player squad by Chelsea teammates Jade Bailey, Drew Spence and Beth England – views the increased contact time with the Lionesses as a potential fasttrack to a first senior cap.

“The new changes mean that it’s not an age group squad anymore, so it can be for anyone,” she said.

“There’s quite a gap between the Under-19s or 20s and Under23s, and when you reach 23 there’s nothing up for that and you can be cut off.

“But now it gives you an idea of what you need to do to step up and get to that senior level.

“The message has been that you’ve got to be adaptable, both physically and psychologically for tournament football.

“Luckily I’ve been to the Under-19 European Championships and the Women’s Under 20s World Cup in Canada – some people don’t have that experience and it’s very different to anything I’ve done.

“With the Next Gen we’ll be meeting up as much as the senior

squad does. You usually had three camps a year in the Under23s – one Nordic, one in La Manga and one in between – so we are going to mirror what they do.

“We’ll be training at the same time of them too – this month five of us went up to train with the senior team.

“Marieanne Spacey has close contact with Mark so he can tell him who’s been doing well in training, and it works out the best of both worlds.”

An impressive end to the season back at club level will be one such way for Blundell to turn heads, though the Blues are unlikely to scale the same heights as last season.

Manchester City are the runaway leaders in the Women’s Super League, whereas secondplaced Chelsea have fallen ten points adrift – albeit having two games in hand – after collecting just one point from games against Birmingham and Arsenal before the break.

And 22-year-old Blundell admitted: “We’ve suffered from a bit of a lack of form in recent weeks – this season has been completely different for some reason.

“Things that were going for us last year are going against us this time.

“We have conceded far too many goals than we should have, and in front of goals we have also struggled more.

“Losing Fran (Kirby) to injury was a big blow for us but fortunately we have the players to replace her.

“We still have the belief in the team, we won two trophies last year and if we just concentrate on ourselves we’ll have a good end to the season.”