Don’t be fooled by England’s youth – they have experience beyond their years

The futsal hall at St George’s Park could easily have passed for an X-Factor audition, the floor space awash with extravagantly groomed alpha lads projecting tight haircuts and big futures. As ever in this kind of adrenaline-soaked environment ‘bantz’ was the medium through which media rituals were conducted.

While Harry Winks posed on the photo set for official England pictures, Mason Mount and James Maddison did their best to knock him out of his stride. To his left, behind a screen the third debutant, Jadon Sancho, had been rearranging his dress after submitting to the same photo obligations. Good job the boys didn’t spot him hauling his kecks up. That Insta post might have broken the internet, as the saying goes.

This infusion of youth, seven of the England squad are 21 or under, reflects Gareth Southgate’s desire to refresh and renew. The unexpected elevation in Russia, where England reached a World Cup semi-final for the first time in 28 years, was always something of an anomaly and not entirely representative of football’s power league. That truth was laid bare by Spain’s dominant victory at Wembley last month.

Seasoned youth

England’s fun boy three offer not only fresh blood but a new breed. Only Maddison arrives via the conduit of a Premier League club, and he is only eight games into that experience at Leicester. Before that, while on the books at Norwich, he sought playing time in the Scottish Premiership with Aberdeen.

Read more: James Maddison is ready to prove he belongs with England

Sancho famously slung his hook down the Ruhr Valley, playing his football at Dortmund and Mount, a graduate of the Chelsea academy presently on loan at Derby, took himself off to Vitesse Arnhem to gain the necessary exposure to football of consequence. Southgate is forced by circumstance to cast the net but with this sample at least he is opening the door to seasoned not callow youth.

How much exposure they get behind closed doors in Croatia on Friday or against Spain in Seville next week would ordinarily depend on the performance of senior figures, and still might. Yet in his selections Southgate is tacitly acknowledging the need for change, having watched the Spanish carousel deliver a stout commentary on the real level England are at.

Taking it all in

Southgate has seen Maddison light up the Leicester attack in the No 10 role, Sancho weigh-in with assists and a first goal in the Bundesliga from his station wide on the left while Mount has shown himself to be a player of huge promise at the heart of Frank Lampard’s Derby midfield, evidenced most significantly in the Carabao Cup win against Manchester United.

The Lampard connection is clearly profitable for Mount, offering invaluable tutorials and wider connectivity to the football elite, a point he readily accepts. “For me personally, as a midfielder I can learn so much off him and I have done so far. He’s got over 100 caps. He said to see if I can break that. It was the first thing he said to me. He’s given me loads of advice so far and I’m just trying to take it all in.”

Mount, a central figure in Chelsea’s age group successes, shares with Maddison and Sancho the same urgency to get on, to be involved and in leaving England all three surely laid the template for the young English footballer to progress.

Learning process

“For me it was a decision where I was only 18, a young kid, and I wanted to play senior football,” Mount said. “I’d already played a year of Under-23s. I wanted to get out and experience the senior game. Obviously the link between Chelsea and Vitesse Arnhem is a strong one and to play Dutch football was a good step for me, as a first year away from home.”

Ideally the next move would have been to return to Chelsea, but the queue in front of him is long and populated by World Cup winners and monied additions. The pragmatic move was to renew the Chelsea connection at Derby. “I thought that I needed to keep playing as many games as I can, that was my goal this season. Maybe the opportunity at Chelsea wasn’t there so I had to get out on loan and obviously with the gaffer and Jody there, there was an opportunity for me to play quite a few games.

“Obviously me being chosen for the England senior team was a surprise. The whole process, going abroad first time and then play in the Championship has worked out. Being a young player, getting game time is important. I learned a lot in Holland and I am learning even more playing in England in the Championship.”

Fulfilling potential

The same compulsion led Sancho to quit the Manchester City dreamscape at 17. The desire to fulfil his potential, to dribble into football wonderland in the manner of his hero Cristiano Ronaldo, had a more powerful claim on his imagination that spending his days on the perimeter of Pep’s realm. “I was just focused on improving. I wanted to play first team, to get minutes under my belt. I’m confident. I believe in myself,” Sancho said in characteristic London patois.

Read more: Jadon Sancho’s England call-up is vindication for having the balls to turn down Pep Guardiola

Sancho’s City contemporary, Phil Foden, chose to stay and persuade Guardiola he is equal to the expectation that surrounds him. Foden celebrated a call-up to the Under-21s this week, Sancho to the senior team. They are, of course, different in style and temperament. Foden might not have pushed his way forward any quicker at Dortmund. But the point is made. You need to play to progress.

With selection comes profile and pressure. The special ones know how to deal with that, too. “I try to stay away from that kind of stuff, not to think about that,” Mount said. “My mum and dad have always said you need to focus on your football and what you can do on the pitch. Obviously there is pressure that comes with it. You have to perform. That’s when the big players step up. You just have to take it in your stride. The main thing is performing on the pitch. You focus on that, doing the best you can. You never know what can happen.”