Leeds United man receives international contribution award from his dad's ex-team-mate

The award is a gesture on behalf of the PFA to recognise special achievements by their members, like national team success. Similar awards to the one Cresswell picked up last week have been dished out to the Euro-winning Lionesses and to PFA members who have won AFCON. Leeds’ young centre-half was handed his award at Thorp Arch last week by former Premier League and EFL man Ritchie Humphries, who once played with Cresswell's father Richard at Sheffield Wednesday.

Cresswell junior was part of the England Under 21s squad who triumped at last year’s European Championships. He was on the bench for the first two group games against Czech Republic and Israel, but came into the side for the third fixture against Germany. All three were 2-0 victories for the Young Lions, who went on to beat Portugal, Israel and Spain to lift the trophy. Cresswell was an unused substitution for the trio of knockout games, with Chelsea’s Levi Colwill and Manchester City prospect Taylor Harwood-Bellis holding down the central defensive spots. England boss Lee Carsley included Cresswell among those praised for the defensive efforts during the tournament. He said: “We talk about the whole team defending, as opposed to just the defence. I thought Levi [Colwill] and Taylor [Harwood-Bellis] as well as Jarrad [Branthwaite] and Charlie [Cresswell] have done outstandingly at centre-back, and obviously James [Trafford] in goal.”

This season Cresswell’s club future has been a talking point at Leeds after boss Daniel Farke opted to leave him out of matchday squads until the defender stated he was prepared to stay and fight for a place, while accepting that he is not one of the manager’s first-choice centre-backs. There was interest in the 21-year-old during the January transfer window but Leeds were not open to the idea of a loan move that could strengthen a promotion rival and Farke insisted any permanent departure would require a buying club to meet the Whites’ valuation of their home-grown defender. Cresswell has started just once in the Championship and come off the bench in a further three games, but his last league involvement came back at the start of October. He returned to the matchday squad as an unused substitute for the FA Cup game against Plymouth Argyle and travelled to Bristol City for Friday’s outing. Cresswell will be hoping to see action in the FA Cup when Leeds take on Plymouth in the fourth round replay on Tuesday night.

Leeds and Cresswell came to terms on a new contract in August 2023 that will keep him at Elland Road until the summer of 2027 and he hoped that this would be the season that he became a regular for his boyhood club, having impressed in a loan stint with Millwall in the previous campaign. He told the YEP: “That's my goal - obviously, I'm not gonna sit here and lie to you and say that's not what I want to do, because that is my dream, ever since I was a little boy, I wanted to play for Leeds United. And hopefully this season I've got a chance to do so.”