Interim England Under-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd starts Euro 2017 preparations

03 November 2016 14:23

Interim England Under-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd has started the Young Lions' preparations for Euro 2017 after handing first call ups to Harry Winks and Alfie Mawson.

They qualified for next summer's tournament in Poland after Boothroyd guided them to victories over Kazakhstan and Bosnia last month.

They host Italy at St Mary's on November 10 before travelling to Bondoufle to play France on November 14.

Tottenham midfielder Winks has made seven appearances this season and Swansea defender Mawson joined from Barnsley for £5.5million in the summer and has played twice.

Southampton's in-form Nathan Redmond is again included with interim senior manager Gareth Southgate wary of upsetting the dynamic of the squad ahead of next year's European Championship.

The draw for Euro 2017 takes place on December 1 and Boothroyd, who replaced Southgate when he took the senior side after Sam Allardyce's exit in September, is already making plans.

He said: "As soon as the final whistle went against Bosnia in Walsall last month we were already thinking about the preparations for next summer and trying to make sure we finish off the year with two more good performances.

"This is what we want, to test ourselves against these sort of nations."

Squad: Gunn (Manchester City), Mitchell (Derby), Pickford (Sunderland), Chambers (Middlesbrough, loan from Arsenal), Galloway (West Brom, loan from Everton), Hause (Wolves), Holding (Arsenal), Iorfa (Wolves), Mawson (Swansea), Stephens (Southampton), Baker (Vitesse Arnhem, loan from Chelsea), Chalobah (Chelsea), Grealish (Aston Villa), Hayden (Newcastle), Hughes (Derby), Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Swift (Reading), Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Winks (Tottenham), Abraham (Bristol City, loan from Chelsea), Gray (Leicester), Redmond (Southampton), Watmore (Sunderland)

Source: PA