Jake Clarke-Salter was named on Monday morning as captain for England’s campaign at the European Under-21 Championships which began yesterday in Italy.
The central defender, who spent last season on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, won the Under-20 World Cup in 2017 playing alongside Chelsea colleague Fikayo Tomori who is also in the squad for the Under-21 tournament, as are Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Jay Dasilva.Clarke-Salter said: ‘It's a massive honour for me to captain England at such a big tournament like this. When I look at the players who have played in the Under-21 Euros, along with the quality of the squad we have now, it's such a proud feeling to be named captain.‘It's a big responsibility to lead the team and make sure we keep our standards as high as we expect them to be on and off the pitch. We know we have a big job to do over the next couple of weeks if we want to achieve the success we hope and believe we can at the Euros.‘We've got a lot of natural leaders in the team and a lot of talent and we're going to do everything we can to try and win this tournament.’The 21-year-old previewed his and England’s involvement yesterday on this website.The Young Lions, who are managed by Aidy Boothroyd, begin their group stage tomorrow (Tuesday) when they take on France. They then play Romania on Friday and Croatia a week today. The group winners and one second-place team qualify for the semi-finals.England reached the semis two years ago where they lost on penalties to Germany but have not won the tournament since 1984.