SAINTS’ quintet of England under-21 internationals will hope to have suitably impressed Aidy Boothroyd as the Young Lions boss prepares to trim his squad for this month’s European Championships.
James Ward-Prowse, Nathan Redmond, Jack Stephens, Matt Targett and Sam McQueen were all picked for the initial 28-man roster for a week-long training camp at England headquarters St George’s Park ahead of the tournament in Poland.
But, following the preparation period, former Watford manager Boothroyd will reduce his squad to 23 on Tuesday for the competition, which begins on June 16, when the under-21s face Sweden in their opening Group A game.
For all five Saints men this represents the last opportunity to play for the Young Lions, with each of them too old to continue with the nation’s final age group team after the Euros.
In Poland they will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the last Saints man to win the European Under-21 Championships, Danny Wallace, who triumphed under Dave Sexton, who also led England to their only other win at the competition in 1982.
The London-born attacker played for Saints from 1980-1990, scoring 79 goals in 299 starts, and was part of the Euro 1984-winning under-21 squad which defeat Spain 3-0 in the final.
Since then, 33 years without winning the tournament have followed, with the closest England getting to the silverware the 4-0 defeat to Germany in the final of the 2009 Euros in Sweden.
Martin Cranie and Theo Walcott were the only men involved that night with any Saints connection, but both of them, by then, were no longer at St Mary’s.
However, this time around, Saints can be at the forefront as England plot to bring an end to years of hurt in yet another international competition.
Ward-Prowse and Redmond, both of whom recently collected senior caps, will be up there with the first names on Boothroyd’s final squad list.
Now England boss Gareth Southgate made Ward-Prowse captain and under Boothroyd he remains so.
Both him and Redmond have long been mainstays in the Young Lions team and, together with club colleagues Targett and Stephens, who are also regulars, won the Toulon Tournament last summer.
McQueen, meanwhile, is only a recent addition to the under-21s team, having received his first call-up in March of this year.
He gained his first cap, starting in the 4-0 win over Denmark at left-back.
STEVEN Davis believes it would be a “huge statement” if Saints resisted big money offers and kept Virgil van Dijk.
The talismanic central defender is attracting big interest from the Premier League’s leading sides, with many clubs preparing bids of around £50m.
Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal are all said to be after the Dutchman, but Saints are ready to withstand such offers.
It is understood only massive offers for Van Dijk will even be entertained by Saints and Davis reckons it would be impressive if the club were able to keep him.
“It would be a huge statement,” he said. “We all know the qualities that he’s got.
“He’s at an age where he’s only getting better.
“We know there’s teams looking at him, such is his quality, but hopefully we can keep hold of him and go on and have a strong season.”
Van Dijk, 25, signed a new six-year contract at St Mary’s last year, which means Saints are in a very strong position to fight off interest for one of their prized assets.
It’s the same for all of Saints’ key men, with Oriol Romeu, Fraser Forster and Ryan Bertrand among those to be also on long-term deals on the south coast.
“[Van Dijk] is a huge player and was a big miss when he was injured in the second part of the season,” Davis added.
“He’s a top quality player and hopefully we’ll do our best to try and keep hold of him.”
Southampton youngster Callum Slattery and England will be looking to make it three wins out of three by beating Japan today at the Toulon Tournament.
The Young Lions have already beaten Angola and Cuba to top Group A and book their place in the competition’s semi-final.
Slattery played the majority of the second half in England’s most recent 7-1 thumping of Cuba, and will now be hoping to impress and cement his position for the semi-final.
England will be hoping to continue in a positive fashion in their 2pm BST kick off against Japan, as they aim to defend the Toulon crown they won for the first time in 22 years last year.
The transfer rumour mill is in overdrive once again, so the Daily Echo is helping all Saints fans keep tabs on who the club has been linked to.
Below we’ll list all the rumours about who could be joining and leaving St Mary’s this summer, as Saints try to improve their squad for the 2017/18 campaign.
| Who should be Southampton’s next manager? | With the future of Claude Puel coming under increasing scrutiny, talk over who could replace him has fired up as … 04-06-2017 |
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