Uefa European Under-21 Championship: All eyes on England’s rising stars as Gareth Southgate looks to the future

If Gareth Southgate is wondering whether he got his midfield selections wrong for the Nations League in Porto, then tonight in Cesena he will see a possible vision of the future.

England start their European Under-21 Championship campaign against France, and in James Maddison and Phil Foden they have two men from whom much is expected. Not just in this tournament, where England have struggled in recent years, but eventually for the senior side too.

Everyone knows that England need to do better in midfield. That was the great weakness of the 2018 World Cup side and, frankly, the 2019 Nations League did not show any real improvement. England still struggle to keep the ball, they still struggle to slow down the pace of the game, they still look unable to play any other way in possession than fast and direct. And with the players Southgate picks – Jordan Henderson, Fabian Delph, Jesse Lingard, Ross Barkley, Dele Alli – who can blame them?

But for England to achieve something under Southgate – to go one step further at Euro 2020 next summer – they have to be better than that. And that change will only come with fresh legs in the middle of the pitch. The leading man is Harry Winks, who was cut from the final 23 that went to Portugal, even though he proved his fitness to start the Champions League final on 1 June. He has shown over recent years – against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City – that he is a man for the biggest occasions. He was playing in England’s best performance under Southgate, the 3-2 win in Seville last October.

When England’s season restarts, against Bulgaria and Kosovo in September, Winks will surely have to play. But it cannot be a one-man solution to this long-standing problem. There are other players out there, Winks’ age or even younger, who must also be involved. If England are serious about seriously changing how they play, it must be a change in generation and mindset, rather than just one player.

This is why it is so important how Maddison and Foden do in Italy this month. Because these are the next candidates, along with Winks and Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish, to give Southgate the chance of another way of playing.

Maddison, 22 years old and an established Premier League name already, is the senior star of this Under-21 side. He has settled into top-flight football at Leicester City quickly than anyone expected, shining for the Foxes all season. He finished the season having created more goal-scoring chances than anyone else in the league, as well as proving himself deadly with set-pieces.

In fact, it is almost a surprise that he is still playing for the U-21 time. He was promoted to Southgate’s senior side last October for the games in Spain and Croatia, but did not play, and was soon back with the U-21s. There were times after that when Maddison’s performances for Leicester should have won him a recall into the England squad but Southgate kept him in the U-21s, insisting that he was a No 10, who England did not have room for in their system. Which is true enough, but England were still finding a place in the squad for Alli.

But Aidy Boothroyd’s team will play with a 10, and Maddison will have practically the whole team built round him. If he can impress on an international stage, and show that he can cope with the pressures of tournament football, it will be very difficult for Southgate not to include him for another year.

Behind Maddison there will be another youngster who could ultimately be even more important. Phil Foden is only 19 but he has shown glimpses of brilliance for Manchester City this season, even trusted by Pep Guardiola for some big games, like the home league game against Tottenham in April. Foden rewarded Guardiola with the winning goal from a diving header.

Foden plays deeper than Maddison and is more about continuity, tempo and drive than he is about the final pass or shot. He is ultimately more of a rival for Winks in the long term. But he is such a good player that it is difficult to envisage an England team that does not have him at its heart a few years down the line.

The question for Southgate is whether Maddison and Foden can join Winks in challenging for a spot at Euro 2020 next summer, or for the Qatar World Cup two years after that. This month’s events in Italy will go some way to determining that.