Ryan Sessegnon is in Italy at the moment looking to add to his trophy collection as England compete in the Under-21 European Championship.
England’s No.11
Having been a key player for Aidy Boothroyd’s side in qualifying, Sessegnon’s inclusion for the tournament was always likely, and he was duly named in the 23-man squad at the end of May. When squad numbers were allocated a couple of weeks later, Sessegnon was given the number 11 shirt. He currently has eight U21 caps to his name, and will be looking to replicate the success he had with the U19s two years ago when he came home with the trophy, golden boot, and a place in the team of the tournament. He was the youngest player in Georgia with the U19s, and only two players this summer will be his junior; teammate Phil Foden (by 10 days), and Belgium’s Yari Verschaeren.
Fixtures
England have been drawn in Group C where they will face France on Tuesday 18th June, Romania on Friday 21st June, and Croatia on Monday 24th June. There are three groups and so the winners of each, along with the best runner-up, with progress to the Semi-Finals. The Final will take place on Sunday 30th June in Udine.
Odds
With a strong squad full of attacking flair, England are favourites with Dafabet to win the tournament, priced at 4/1, but there isn’t much in it. Spain and Italy both have plenty of talent in their ranks as well and aren’t far off England with the bookies, while holders Germany are available at 5/1. Serbia could be a decent outside bet at 18/1 with €60m man Luka Jović leading the line.
England 4/1
Spain 17/4
Italy 9/2
Germany 5/1
France 5/1
Denmark 9/1
Belgium 16/1
Serbia 18/1
Croatia 25/1
Austria 50/1
Poland 50/1
Romania 66/1
Players to watch
All eyes will be on the aforementioned Jović following his big money move to Real Madrid. The forward had been playing off Aleksandar Mitrović in the senior side, but is still eligible for the Under-21s. He’s joined by another fully fledged international in Andrija Živković, an exciting winger on Benfica’s books. There’s a familiar face in the France squad with former Fulham striker Moussa Dembélé leading the line on the back of a terrific season at Lyon for whom he scored 17 times in his debut campaign. Dani Ceballos featured 34 times for Real Madrid this season, and he’ll be pulling the strings in the Spain midfield behind Mikel Oyarzabal who already has 38 Real Sociedad goals to his name. Lorenzo Pellegrini is a regular in the Roma midfield and he’ll be key for the Azzurri as they look to win the trophy for a sixth time, with Moise Kean hoping to provide the goals following his breakthrough season for Juventus.
England squad
1. Dean Henderson (Manchester United)
2. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Crystal Palace)
3. Jay Dasilva (Chelsea)
4. Jake Clarke-Salter (Chelsea)
5. Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea)
6. Kieran Dowell (Everton)
7. Demarai Gray (Leicester City)
8. James Maddison (Leicester City)
9. Dominic Solanke (AFC Bournemouth)
10. Phil Foden (Manchester City)
11. Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham)
12. Jonjoe Kenny (Everton)
13. Angus Gunn (Southampton)
14. Lloyd Kelly (AFC Bournemouth)
15. Ezri Konsa (Brentford)
16. Hamza Choudhury (Leicester City)
17. Harvey Barnes (Leicester City)
18. Mason Mount (Chelsea)
19. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)
20. Morgan Gibbs-White (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
21. Reiss Nelson (Arsenal)
22. Freddie Woodman (Newcastle United)
23. Tammy Abraham (Chelsea)