Leeds United pair receive stroke of luck as youngsters eye back-to-back titles with England

The Young Lions will be vying to retain their Under-19 European title in Malta next year, after lifting the prize this past summer. Due to the nature of youth international football however, there will be a vastly different England squad hoping to qualify for the final tournament, which takes place between 3-16 July, 2023.

England must first negotiate their way past Turkey, Iceland and Hungary in their final qualification group. Matches will be played during March’s international break with the holders hot favourites to qualify for the competition in Malta. Only one team from each of the eight, four-team groups will progress to the championships, meaning England cannot afford any slip-ups against their opponents. The Young Lions may be counting themselves lucky with the draw which took place in Nyon, Switzerland on Thursday, after Germany, Belgium and Italy were all drawn in the same group.

Additionally, England will be able to count on two of Leeds United’s brightest young talents in Sonny Perkins and Darko Gyabi. The former is currently Under-19 European Championships qualifying top scorer with five goals in three previous outings earlier this year.

Perkins netted a hat-trick against Georgia Under-19s back in September, as well as scoring a goal apiece versus Denmark and Montenegro in the preliminary group stage in which England were unbeaten.

Both players made their senior debuts for Leeds United in last month’s Carabao Cup defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers and have been included in the senior squad’s training camp at Oliva Nova this week. They are expected to feature in some capacity for the first-team in mid-season friendlies later this month versus Real Sociedad and AS Monaco once the team return to the United Kingdom.