By Martin Walker
Newtonian Jason Steele has been named in Stuart Pearce’s final 23-man squad for this summer’s European Under-21 Championships.
The Aycliffe-born goalkeeper, recently voted Middlesbrough’s Player and Young Player of the Year by Boro fans, joins Stoke’s Jack Butland and Norwich’s Declan Rudd as Pearce’s three goalkeepers for the tournament in Israel next month.
It will mean a short summer break for Steele. The 22-year-old will return from a brief holiday before heading off to a week-long England training camp in Turkey later this month.
England’s tournament will then start with their first group game v Italy on June 5, Norway on June 8 and hosts Israel on June 11.
Steele is likely to be second choice to Butland, but coach Pearce said: “The mainstay has been Butland, although he’s spent a lot of his time going up and coming down from the seniors.
“That has enabled the likes of Steele and Rudd to get experience at Under-21 level and that’s important.”
The full England U-21 squad is as follows:
GOALKEEPERS
Jack Butland
Club Stoke City
Born 10.03.93
CAPS 9 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 01.09.11, 6-0 v Azerbaijan (h)
After six Under-21 caps and a starring role for Team GB in the London 2012 Olympics, Jack became England’s youngest Senior ‘keeper against Italy in Berne last August.
Declan Rudd
Club Norwich City
Born 06.01.91
CAPS 1 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 05.02.13, 4-0 v Sweden (h)
Declan was a Canaries first-teamer in 2009-10, making seven League appearances, and has been on loan at Preston. He has previously been capped from U16 to U20 levels.
Jason Steele
Club Middlesbrough
Born 18.08.90
CAPS 6 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 16.11.10, 0-2 v Germany (a)
Jason only played 12 minutes of his Under-21 debut due to being red-carded in Wiesbaden. He established himself in Boro’s first team in 2010-11 with 35 starts.
DEFENDERS
Steven Caulker
Club Tottenham Hotspur
Born 29.12.91
CAPS 8 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 2 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 16.11.10, 0-2 v Germany (a)
Steven started the first four Under-21 matches of 2012-13, netting against Azerbaijan, and made a scoring debut for Roy Hodgson’s Seniors in Sweden last November.
Nathaniel Clyne
Club Southampton
Born 05.04.91
CAPS 6 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 10.11.11, 5-0 v Iceland (h)
Nathaniel won his first three caps in Euro Qualifiers against Iceland, Belgium and Norway. A transfer last summer took him from Crystal Palace to Premier League Saints.
Craig Dawson
Club West Bromwich Albion
Born 06.05.90
CAPS 13 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 5 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 01.09.11, 6-0 v Azerbaijan (h)
Craig has been on loan at Bolton Wanderers. He enjoyed a fantastic start with England’s Under-21s, scoring twice on his debut. He added two more later in the season.
Tom Lees
Club Leeds United
Born 18.11.90
CAPS 5 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 10.09.12, 1-0 v Norway (h)
Tom featured in 42 Championship matches for Leeds in 2011-12. He made his Under-21 bow as a substitute for Connor Wickham in a Euro Qualifier against Norway.
Danny Rose
Club Tottenham Hotspur
Born 02.07.90
CAPS 27 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 3 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 08.06.09, 7-0 v Azerbaijan (h)
Danny started the first four Under-21 matches of 2012-13, his fifth with the squad, and reached 25 caps in Serbia. He has been on loan at Premier League Sunderland.
Luke Shaw
Club Southampton
Born 12.07.95
CAPS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT N/A
Luke is only 17 but has already made his mark in the Premier League with Saints. His eight caps for England’s U17s last season included five in the European Championship.
Adam Smith
Club Tottenham Hotspur
Born 29.04.91
CAPS 10 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 05.09.11, 4-1 v Israel (h)
Adam started both of the Under-21 play-off matches against Serbia. He has already had substantial loan spells at AFC Bournemouth, MK Dons, Leeds United and Millwall.
Andre Wisdom
Club Liverpool
Born 09.05.93
CAPS 5 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 05.09.11, 4-1 v Israel (h)
Andre broke into Liverpool’s first team in 2012-13, appearing in the Premier League and Europa League. He has amassed 27 caps at various youth levels for England.
MIDFIELDERS
Nat Chalobah
Club Chelsea
Born 12.12.94
CAPS 4 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 13.11.12, 2-0 v Northern Ireland (h)
Nat has been on loan at Watford. He appeared in eight out of nine matches for England’s U19s in 2011-12 and made his Under-21 bow as a substitute last November.
Jordan Henderson
Club Liverpool
Born 17.06.90
CAPS 24 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 4 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 10.08.10, 2-0 v Uzbekistan (h)
Jordan has captained the Under-21s in 12 of the last 13 matches, an obvious choice having already stepped up to the Seniors. He made two sub appearances at Euro 2012.
Tom Ince
Club Blackpool
Born 30.01.92
CAPS 6 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 2 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 06.09.12, 2-0 v Azerbaijan (h)
The son of former England skipper Paul, Tom started the first six Under-21 matches of 2012-13 and scored twice, his first Under-21 goals, in the 4-0 win against Sweden.
Henri Lansbury
Club Nottingham Forest
Born 12.10.90
CAPS 16 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 5 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 17.11.09, 0-0 v Lithuania (a)
Henri made his first start for the Under-21s for over a year in March. In that time he had played for West Ham on loan and signed permanently for Forest from Arsenal.
Jason Lowe
Club Blackburn Rovers
Born 02.09.91
CAPS 9 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 10.10.11, 2-1 v Norway (a)
Jason has featured in five of the last six Under-21 matches, starting the last one against Austria, and captained the U20s at the 2011 World Cup. He had a loan spell at Oldham.
Josh McEachran
Club Chelsea
Born 01.03.93
CAPS 11 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 1 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 16.11.10, 0-2 v Germany (a)
Josh has played for Chelsea’s first team and represented England at four levels. He was at Middlesbrough on loan in 2012-13 after a similar arrangement with Swansea.
Callum McManaman
Club Wigan Athletic
Born 25.04.91
CAPS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT N/A
Callum was ‘Man of the Match’ in May’s FA Cup Final, showing electrifying pace on the right wing. He played in all four of England’s matches at the U20 World Cup in 2011.
Jonjo Shelvey
Club Liverpool
Born 27.02.92
CAPS 9 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 3 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 01.09.11, 6-0 v Azerbaijan (h)
Jonjo scored his third goal for the Under-21s against Austria in March and won his first Senior cap as a substitute against San Marino at Wembley in October last year.
Andros Townsend
Club Tottenham Hotspur
Born 16.07.91
CAPS 3 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 0 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 12.10.12, 1-0 v Serbia (h)
Andros made his first start for the Under-21s last November. He has had loan spells with several clubs and tried to help QPR stay in the Premier League in 2012-13.
FORWARDS
Marvin Sordell
Club Bolton Wanderers
Born 17.02.91
CAPS 12 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 3 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 01.09.11, 6-0 v Azerbaijan (h)
Marvin started three matches for the Under-21s in 2012-13, including the play-offs with Serbia. He scored 21 League goals for Watford before switching to Bolton.
Connor Wickham
Club Sunderland
Born 31.03.93
CAPS 13 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 5 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 16.11.10, 0-2 v Germany (a)
Connor was a prodigy at Ipswich who signed for the Black Cats in 2011. He got off the mark for the Under-21s last September after scoring for the U16s, U17s and U19s.
Wilfried Zaha
Club Manchester United
Born 10.11.92
CAPS 7 (as at 25.03.13)
GOALS 1 (as at 25.03.13)
DEBUT 29.02.12, 4-0 v Belgium (h)
Six of Wilfried’s Under-21 caps came in 2012-13. United signed him from Crystal Palace in the January window and loaned him back to help their promotion push.
England’s Group Fixtures
5 June v Italy, Tel Aviv (7.30pm)
8 June v Norway, Petah Tikva (5pm)
11 June v Israel, Jerusalem (5pm)
KO times BST
