England & The EFL: A Snapshot

A breakdown of EFL players called up to England squads this week, written by Ali Maxwell.

Nov 13, 2024

Hi friends. As myself and George have added The England Pod to our arsenal this year, I thought I’d try a ‘crossover’ post, adding England Pod seasoning to an NTT20 mouthful.

First, let’s update a well-worn statistic that gets used to underline the importance of the leagues below the Premier League when it comes to the development of elite English footballers.

In England’s Euro 2024 squad, 77% of players had either started their career within an EFL academy or played their first senior football on loan in the lower leagues (EFL or non-league).

I love making lists. I love celebrating EFL academies. I love youth development and tracking young players. And I love England.

So here are the players, attached to EFL clubs, who have been called up to represent England at youth level this week:

James Trafford (Senior Team, Burnley)

Trafford was initially called up to the Under 21s, before replacing the injured Aaron Ramsdale in the Senior squad. Trafford is Manchester City educated, made his first 80 senior league appearances in League One with Accrington and Bolton, before becoming the third most expensive English goalkeeper in history with a move to Burnley in summer 2023. 28 challenging Premier League appearances later, he’s conceded only 6 goals in 14 Championship games this season, saving 80% of shots and keeping 8 clean sheets.

Teden Mengi (Under 21s, Luton Town)

Mengi was added to the U21s squad after Jarrad Branthwaite was bumped up to the Senior team. A Manchester United academy product that had loan spells with Derby and Birmingham, he’s approaching 50 appearances for Luton.

Stat: Luton Town have players in the U21s, Elite League Squad (U20s) and U19s.

Kellen Fisher (Under 21s, Norwich City)

Fisher came through at Bromley before their promotion to the EFL. Snapped up by Norwich City aged 19 in summer 2023, he’s made the right-back spot his own this season and shown impressive development — demonstrating quality on the ball, defensive toughness, physical strength and strong temperament.

Hayden Hackney (Under 21s, Middlesbrough)

Hackney has seven England U21s caps and two Scotland U21 caps. The speed with which he established himself in Boro’s midfield was notable, and his development across two years of first team football under Michael Carrick has been fantastic to watch.

Jobe Bellingham (Sunderland, U21)

Jobe has played in every England youth age group imaginable, but makes his first U21s squad appearance here. A product of Birmingham City signed by Sunderland for what now looks like peanuts, he’d played every minute this season before a recent red card.

If brother Jude was famously given the number 22 shirt because he could perform the duties of a #4, an #8 and a #10 in one generational package, then Jobe is something of a… #31?! Last season he played as a #9 and a #10, this season he’s been an #8 and a #6. Wherever he plays, he shows a mixture of tenacity and smooth ball-carrying with an excellent temperament and robustness.

As George said on a recent Monday Pod, it seems likely than one day we will see Bellingham and Bellingham playing together for England.

In the Men’s Elite League Squad (formerly U20s), there is a lot of EFL representation.

The GK cohort contains Ben Cisse (West Brom), Tommy Simkin (Walsall, on loan from Stoke City) and Matty Young (Salford City, loan from Sunderland).

Cisse is yet to make a senior club appearance and Matty Young hasn’t yet been seen in a league game for Salford or Sunderland, but impressed on loan at Darlington last season à la 2012 Jordan Pickford. Tommy Simkin is an interesting case at the moment — he’s playing in goal for an excellent Walsall side, but has so far conceded more goals (14) than he has made saves (11), for a save percentage of 44% per Fbref.

The full-backs are also pure EFL. Jet-heeled Ryan Andrews has 59 Championship appearances under his belt for Watford, while James Dornelly has been called up after just seven starts in League One for Peterborough United. It is a fantastic achievement for 19 year-old Dornelly, and also for the Peterborough academy and its coaches. Famed within the EFL for their excellent recruitment, they are performing equally well at developing their own - Dornelly is the third young Posh player to command an England youth call up, after Ronnie Edwards (Barnet academy, signed for Posh at 17, now at Southampton) and Benji Arthur (Posh academy, now at Brentford).

In terms of left-backs, there’s Ben Chrisene of Norwich City, who came through at Exeter City before signing for Aston Villa at 16 and for Norwich this summer. 20 year-old Thierry Small was at Everton and Southampton as a young player without making a league appearance, but has found a home at Charlton for whom he’s made 19 league starts since January.

Darko Gyabi is Leeds’ tall, rangy central midfielder that’s been loaned to Plymouth Argyle since January, making 21 Championship starts. Zack Nelson is an attacking midfield player that’s been with Luton since 15, and Sydie Peck (Sheff United) was drafted in after an injury to Blades teammate Oli Arblaster. He’s doing a good job of following in Arblaster’s own impressive footsteps - making a number of impressive appearances across 474 Championship minutes this season.

In attack, there’s Romain Esse, who has established himself as a star player for Millwall this season after a season of promise in 23/24. He leads the Championship for dribbles completed. Chris Rigg (Sunderland) withdrew from this squad through injury.

In the Under 19s, managed by former Wycombe and Wimbledon player Will Antwi, there’s Luton’s third England youth squad participant: centre-back Joe Johnson (Luton Town). He started in the U19s win against Lithuania on Wednesday.

In the Under 18s, there’s goalkeeper Nicolas Michalski of Blackburn Rovers, and two from Stoke City: Jaden Dixon and Sol Sidibe. Son of former Gills and Stoke striker Mamady Sidibe, Sol is a central midfielder that is spoken about glowingly among youth circles and has already made 8 Championship appearances (1 start).

As we’re in the Stoke area, let’s mention Baylee Dipepa. He’s with Southampton now, but was born in Blythe Bridge south-east of Stoke, and came through at Port Vale. Both Sidibe and Dipepa are two U18 players that I have a very close, long-term eye on.

In the Under 17s, Boro and Blackburn continue to demonstrate their impressive Cat 1 Academy chops with call ups in the form of Anton Palmer (Middlesbrough) and Igor Tyjon (Blackburn Rovers).

So I make that a whole squad’s worth of players attached to EFL clubs that are represented across England youth teams U17 - U21!

There are many others within those squads that are current EFL loanees or previously played in the EFL:

James Beadle (U21, Brighton →Sheffield Wednesday)

Callum Doyle (U21, Man City → Norwich City)

George Earthy (U21, West Ham United → Bristol City)

Bashir Humphreys (U21, Chelsea → Burnley, on loan from Chelsea)

Dominic Ballard (U20, Southampton → Blackpool)

Kaide Gordon (U20, Liverpool → Norwich City)

Kamari Doyle (U20, Brighton & Hove Albion → Exeter City)

Ashley Phillips (U20, Tottenham Hotspur → Stoke City. Blackburn Rovers academy graduate)

Former EFL academy players:

Jarrad Branthwaite (Senior, Carlisle now Everton, )

Matthew Cox (U21, Wimbledon now Brentford)

Charlie Cresswell (U21, Leeds now Toulouse)

Archie Gray (U21, Leeds now Tottenham)

Max Dean (U20, Leeds, then MK Dons, now K.A.A Gent)

I’m sure I’ve missed one or two here, let me know in the comments. And please subscribe!