Leeds United youngster reveals Aaron Ramsey mentoring ahead of 42-year European milestone

Crew missed Monday night’s Under-21 promotion celebrations at Elland Road due to his Welsh youth international responsibilities, fielding questions from the media ahead of the Under-17s’ first appearance at the European Championships.

Skippering the side, Crew explained how the team had been visited by Euro 2016 captain Ashley Williams ahead of the tournament which gets underway on Wednesday, May 17 in Hungary.

"He came in and settled our nerves with some of the things he was telling us," the 16-year-old Leeds midfielder said.

"He obviously played in the 2016 Euros, which we were all watching - the whole of Wales was watching. He was giving us his experiences of tournament football.

"He was telling us how to deal with different parts of the game and different parts of the tournament, because you don't always get struggles on the pitches, you get them off the pitch as well and you have to stick together," Crew told the BBC.

"He talked about the media side - there's going to be a lot more media to deal with - and just gave us his ways of dealing with it. We can take that with us."

Wales’ group at the tournament includes hosts Hungary whom they kick off against on Wednesday evening, as well as Poland and the Republic of Ireland.

The team are eight games unbeaten in all competitions and hoping to cause an upset at their first youth international competition since the likes of Mark Hughes and Glyn Hodges appeared at the Under-18 Championship in 1981.

In line with his responsibilities as Under-17 captain, Crew was invited to train and be mentored by the senior Wales team during March’s international break – a squad which featured veteran skipper Aaron Ramsey, Leeds-owned Daniel James, Ethan Ampadu and Harry Wilson.

"It's always nice to be in and around them just to see what they're doing as that's what we're trying to aim for," Crew said of the experience.

"It's down to us now to go out and enjoy ourselves and compete with whoever we're playing against and get as far as possible."

Crew is not the only Leeds representative at this summer’s Under-17 Euros – Archie Gray has been selected by England while Under-18s goalkeeper Rory Mahady will take the No. 1 shirt for Scotland.