Tammy Abraham targets Euro U21s trophy to continue England youths winning streak

Talk of a golden generation is just as inevitable as it is trite, but the fact of the matter is that England youth national teams are winning just about everything these days — back-to-back Toulon Tournaments, U20 World Cup, runners-up at the U17 World Cup in May. Now it’s the U21s turn at the European Championships starting on Friday, while the U19s will follow with their edition in early July.

Chelsea players have played a massive part in all that success, and that is set to be the case for the U21s as well. Ruben Loftus-Cheek may be injured, but Lewis Baker, Nathaniel Chalobah, and Tammy Abraham are expected to form part of the backbone of Aidy Boothroyd’s side with Abraham, the youngest member of the squad and the only teenager, set to to lead the line. A few months ago, Tammy may have been expecting to be a part of the U20 squad instead; now, having missed out on their World Cup triumph, is hoping to make up for that by winning the Euros.

“The boys (in Korea) did the country so proud and we’d love to follow in their footsteps by winning the Euros. We want to show we are the next up and coming players for the England squad, so there is a bit of pressure on us. We can’t have them bragging they won and we didn’t!”

“Yes it was bittersweet (watching), it’s true. It’s a great achievement. I’m sure they’re proud of themselves. The whole country is proud of them. They deserved to win it. But I’m here to win the Euros and we’ve got a lot of good players so we’re in with a chance. You could say that (I felt envious). But obviously the Under 21s is a massive thing. Would it make up for it, winning this? Definitely. Hopefully what I have done all season can pay off and we will win the tournament.”

With focus fully on the tournament — England play Sweden on Friday in the first of three group games (also in the group: Slovakia and the “next Marek Hamšík” who just happens be from my hometown, and hosts Poland) — Tammy’s not thinking about his future, which leaves at least two teams, Newcastle and Brighton, waiting with much anticipation for him to finally make a decision about his potential loan move.

“I’m focussing on this tournament so the discussions will happen after.”

-Tammy Abraham; source: Mail

Good luck, Tammy and the rest of the England boys!