To see the current crop of England Under-19s is to see a group that has all the potential to break the very mould that England seem to be stuck in.
That mould is running roughshod over their European rivals at youth level before hitting a development wall when it comes to carrying that over into the Premier League.
‘We are quite clearly bringing the best players through,’ former England striker Michael Owen, who remains the youngest player to have scored for the England national team, scoring on his debut at the age of 18 years and 59 days, said recently.
‘All of a sudden we’re beating Spain, Portugal, Germany, and all these nations. All of a sudden these [opposition] guys go back and play 50 games for Lisbon, or Boavista, or Leverkusen, or whatever because they can get in these teams.
‘Our teams, let’s say Liverpool with Harvey Elliott, he’s never going to play ahead of Mo Salah, never in a million years. These Portugal players, Germany players have played 50 games, 100 games, 30 games in the Champions League.
‘They are now 22 and we are buying them for £100million. Our players were better than them three years ago!’
England Under-19s boast a group that is brimming with potential world class footballers
Liverpool starlet Rio Ngumoha, who they prised out of Chelsea, is a gem of a player out wide
What England Under-19 boss Will Antwi has now is a young team that have already dipped their toe into the pool of first team football with their clubs.
Max Dowman (15) is fully embedded with Arsenal’s first team and has already played in the Premier League.
Jeremy Monga (16) is a key piece in Leicester City’s bid to win promotion back to the Premier League and is one of the Championship’s most exciting players.
Rio Ngumoha (17) is firmly in Liverpool boss Arne Slot’s plans and that was further underlined for those who needed it when he was sent on to win the game at St James’ Park in that recent humdinger away to Newcastle.
Stephen Mfuni (17) is a diamond in Manchester City’s Under-21 side and a player that Pep Guardiola is keeping very close tabs on.
Shim Mheuka (17) is a goalscoring machine at Chelsea that Enzo Maresca knows is waiting for his breakout moment with the first team.
Trey Nyoni (18) and Jay Robinson (18) are both full first team prospects at Liverpool and Southampton respectively.
The challenge inside St George’s Park when it comes to squad selectors is knowing when to accelerate players and when to hold them back a touch.
This England U19 group swatted aside the Netherlands 4-1 and went unbeaten in this last camp
Scouts from across Europe have marvelled in this camp at Max Dowman’s world class potential
Dowman, the second youngest Premier League player ever, already looks like he can dominate at this level after being drafted in by Antwi for this camp in Spain.
In the first half of a 3-3 draw with Spain in recent days, Dowman was fouled 10 times in the first half. By the end, even the partisan locals were calling on Spain’s players to be booked for their rough treatment of the Arsenal youngster.
Ngumoha, Liverpool’s youngest ever scorer, came off the bench to grab an assist, while Mheuka’s first half brace in the friendly against the Netherlands made it five goals in three matches for England’s U19s in this break. That follows five goals in four games for Chelsea’s U21s so far this campaign.
And what scouts of AC Milan, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea, Man City and Man United, all of whom watched the 3-3 draw versus Spain over the weekend, are seeing is an attacking artillery that is one of the most promising in years.
There have been players in this group previously that have tasted first team football but this group feels different in the sense that many players in this cohort have the potential to be world class in their position.
Dowman plays a lot like Martin Odegaard in how he glides around the pitch. Mheuka is a clinical finisher. Ngumoha looks technically and physically ready to start for the current Premier League champions. Monga, meanwhile, is one of the most talented players in the FA’s player pathway.
The question now is how fast these rising stars get fast-tracked up the levels because, based on what they have shown so far, many in this Under-19 group are ready for the brightest spotlights.
