England “aggressively pursuing” Leeds United and Liverpool starlets
BUDAÖRS, HUNGARY - 23 MAY 2023: Wales' Charlie Crew during the 2023 UEFA European Under-17 Championship Group A fixture between Cymru & Poland at the Budaörsi Városi Stadion, Budaörs, Hungry. (Pic by John Smith/FAW)
England are aggressively pursuing two of Wales’ brightest young prospects, U21 manager Matty Jones has revealed.
Leeds United midfielder Charlie Crew made his debut for the U21s last month in a friendly against Liechtenstein. However, England are looking to recruit the youngster into their programme, but Jones is hopeful he will stay with Wales.
“I can confirm they are not rumours,” said Crew.
“England are being very aggressive at the moment in their recruitment of players, and we have to admire that because they’re looking to us to recruit players, and that’s a huge compliment.
“With Charlie, we are very reassured that we have done absolutely everything in our control, to make sure we’ve provided him the right platform to excel.
“I’m fully confident that he’ll stay with Wales, we’ve had good meetings with him and his parents, who wanted to make an informed decision based on all the evidence they’ve been given, and you have to honour that and accept it.
“Charlie has been our countries captain in every age group so far, and we certainly feel he has the potential to not just captain the U21s but to be a huge prospect in the senior side.”
It isn’t just Crew that’s caught the eye of the Three Lions. Lewis Koumas, son of former Welsh international Jason Koumas, is also on their radar. But like Crew, Jones believes they’ve done enough to keep him in Wales.
“It’s the same with Lewis Koumas,” he added.
“Every nation has to be respectful about it, and there’s nothing wrong with asking the question. We’re looking at the best players in the country, and luckily most of them play for Wales. We’re always venturing to see which players can play for us.
“When we are recruiting these players, we want them to know what it means to represent the badge and represent the country, and that’s why we’ve invested so much time on setting our values and getting that across to the players.”
Senior players plan
There is cause for celebration for Matty, his staff, and the rest of the U21 team, with three of them being called up to the senior side for the friendly against Gibraltar.
Luke Harris has earned a recall, while there a first-time call-ups for Reading’s Charlie Savage and Dundee United’s Owen Beck.
“There’s no better feeling than when Rob phones me and asks about players he’s thinking about calling up. It’s always about being brave and giving these players opportunities, and luckily, we have three who’ve made it in this camp.
“But with the number of players who have fallen down with injury, we might have even more in the future. It’s everything we work for; everyday we want to carve a pathway for these young players.”
While, of course, it’s great to see the young players getting a chance with the senior team, there’s only a turnaround of two days between the game against Gibraltar and the U21 qualifier away against Czechia.
However, there are plans in place for the youngsters to be primed and ready for that crucial game in Ceske Budejovice.
“We’ve got recovery strategies in place for those players based on how many minutes they may play on Wednesday.
“They’ll go through that strategy at Colliers Park before flying out to meet the team, and we’ve got support structures ready in place to make sure they have the information necessary heading into our game.”
Colwill conundrum
With a lot of the U21 players catching the eye of Rob Page, there is perhaps some surprise amongst certain members of the Red Wall that Rubin Colwill hasn’t earned a recall.
The attacking midfielder has been putting in some impressive performances for Cardiff, and while Jones is still delighted to have him in the setup, thinks it won’t be too long until he is back in Page’s plans.
“We have to relish the opportunity of having him with us. Rubin has been a pivotal part of our success this campaign so far, and not that I fear, but when he makes that step back up to the senior team, we will take some suffering, and that’s an acceptance.
“It’s where he deserves to be, and it’s only a matter of time until he’s back in with the seniors.”
WALES U21 SQUAD TO FACE CZECHIA
Ed Beach (Chelsea), Evan Watts (Swansea City)
Ed Turns (Leyton Orient), Joe Low (Wycombe Wanderers), Owen Bevan (Cheltenham Town), Luca Hoole (Bristol Rovers), Zac Ashworth (Bolton Wanderers), Owen Beck (Dundee United), Fin Stevens (Oxford United), Harry Leeson (Bristol City)
Eli King (Morecambe), Joel Cotterill (Stockport County), Charlie Savage (Reading), Oli Hammond (Cheltenham Town), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff City), Cameron Congreve (Swansea City)
Jadan Raymond (Crystal Palace), Luke Harris (Fulham), Pat Jones (Huddersfield Town), Josh Thomas (Port Vale), Tom Hill (Liverpool), Cian Ashford (Cardiff City)
