England manager Gareth Southgate announced his next England squad today, with a number of names not really as familier as you would think.
Gone are the Lampards, Gerrards and Rooneys, with a new group of players coming forward and more will flourish with the new and uplifting work done in the academies and around at the grassroots.
The combination of long tradition, football knowledge, better nutrition and players understanding that injury free bodies comes down to the right way of training, sleep and eating.
The fact that the England U.20’s and U.17s are the best teams in the World and steady producing better and better players will see that the homegrown system sooner rather than later will give great results.
Germany has been hailed for the work they started in the start of this century, but now other countries are chasing and especially Belgium and England are the two nations to look to. They were both bronze finalists in the recent World Cup, but as we know both nations played with teams not really settled and part of a generation change.
Belgium had a number of old timers, while England had a team not really played together and they evolved through the tournament, so to see another switch for even more youth by Gareth Southgate is thrilling news.
James Maddison from Leicester City is still only 21 years of age, and was called up by Gareth Southgate, previously been capped four times at U.21 level.
England U.17 international and World Cup winner Jadon Sancho is included in the squad. The 18 year old wonder kid is currently playing for Borussia Dortmund, loaned out by Manchester City. This shows that the youngster is good enough for the big scene and jumps straight over the U.21 team, with only five U.19 caps to his name.
One year older, still only 19, Derby County loanee Mason Mount joins the squad. Mount is a young attacking midfielder who spent last season at Vitesse in Holland and has so far under the management of Frank Lampard showed fantastic development with The Rams.
Leicester City duo Ben Chilwell and Demarai Gray was both inlcuded in the last squad playing at King Power Stadium in the friendly v. Switzerland. Chilwell made his debut with Gray rested on the bench.
We also have a young player waiting in the wings with the name Phil Foden. Not to forget Tammy Abraham and Dominic Solanke who both have been included earlier. Nice to see a player such as Ross Barkley back in the squad, hopefully able to stay away from injuries and start performing steady for his club team.
Premier League is a global competition being played in England, and you will always see imports and competition is hard both for managers and players, so nice to see that Three Lions is coached by an English born.
The job in England is to bring forward talent better than what you will find abroad and start winning titles in Europe, then the battle is won also for the national team.
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