Stones and Garbutt set for U21s call-up

Lyndon Lloyd , 20 May, 17comments | Jump to most recent

Everton duo John Stones and Luke Garbutt have been included in the provisional England squad for this summer's Under-21 European Championships.

The final squad for the tournament in the Czech Republic will eventually be reduced to the final party of 23 prior to the squad's meet-up at St George's Park on 2nd June.

England's first group game is against Portugal in Uherske Hradiste on Thursday 18th June before they take on Sweden on the 1st and Italy on the 24th.

Ross Barkley, about whose inclusion manager Roberto Martinez had expressed reservations, has not been selected.

Martinez had explained his doubts over whether Barkley would benefit from being included in this summer's competition, preferring that the 21 year-old recuperate from a difficult season and have the best preparation for the 2015-16 campaign.

Reader Comments (17)

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Paul Chaloner
1 Posted 20/05/2015 at 16:16:03

ItÂ’s a hard one to call this. Glad for Garbutt so long as he stays with us. Would be great for Stones to get some valuable international experience but with a demanding season ending with the Europeans next year he will face a bit of a slog together with Kane. From a selfish point of view I would have liked him to stay with the seniors so he can prepare for Â’make or breakÂ’ season for Bobby.

Phil Walling
3 Posted 20/05/2015 at 16:42:40

I would love to think that Stones, Galloway and Garbutt could eventually line up with Seamus as our back four. ItÂ’s never going to happen , of course.

David Greenwood
4 Posted 20/05/2015 at 17:03:24

Why not Phil?

Charlie Burnett
5 Posted 20/05/2015 at 17:02:01

Why have we let Stones go but kept back Barkley? Surely Stones is the more valuable player to us and it would get Barkley's confidence up if he has a good tournament.

Phill Thompson
6 Posted 20/05/2015 at 17:03:51

Butland was the captain recently, there must be a good case for making Stones captain for the tournament.

Ian Jones
7 Posted 20/05/2015 at 19:00:30

To Charlie re letting Stones go and not Barkley. Assume there isn’t a choice as such and Gareth Southgate did indicate he wanted players that had helped the team qualify for the finals which is fair enough.

Phil Smith
8 Posted 20/05/2015 at 20:16:51

Aye but the new Chelsea lad gets called up? I think this tournament really would've help helped Ross in his development. He hasnÂ’t played that much for us this year, so he canÂ’t be exhausted. Why not take him?

James Marshall
9 Posted 20/05/2015 at 20:19:15

Barkley hasnÂ’t been selected because heÂ’s been shit all season.

James Stewart
10 Posted 20/05/2015 at 20:30:01

Shame Barkley didnÂ’t go... it might've pushed his price up.

Dick Brady
11 Posted 20/05/2015 at 20:41:18

I think both Barkley and Sterling have been excused from the U21 tournament because they both gained valuable tournament experience from playing at the World Cup last year. Players like Stones and Garbutt will play for the U21s this summer in the hope they can get tournament experience but Barkley already got that from Rio and probably needs a rest over the summer.

Ant Dwyer
12 Posted 20/05/2015 at 22:39:22

ThatÂ’s spot on Dick, although I agree Barkley could and should have gone, this type of tournament has been the making of some brilliant footballers such as Neymar, Courtinho, David Silva, Mata, Fabregas and many many more.

Playing in this tournament is better than spending half the summer getting pissed like most young footballers do.

Harold Matthews
13 Posted 20/05/2015 at 23:55:11

Both lads will get a game but I canÂ’t see a left-footer in the defence who is better than Galloway.

Terence Leong
14 Posted 21/05/2015 at 06:10:49

For players like Stones involved, you can see how itÂ’ll take a toll, as Paul #1 says.

That means that itÂ’ll be potentially two years of non-stop football, starting now.
If Stones continue to perform at his level, I can imagine him being called up for the senior squad next June, even not as a starter, but as a squad player.

So, the 2016-17 season where it could be breakthrough season (in terms of them becoming real big players for the team) for players like Barkley and Stones (assuming they are still around), might be tampered with that.

The 2015-16 season is of course the one we hope both players go on to establish themselves as the go-to guys. And if they do so, and the team performs well, the 2016-17 season is the one that they can also produce the goods in Europe.

Anyways, that is of course too far to think about, but oh well...

Geoff Evans
15 Posted 21/05/2015 at 17:43:43

Good for both, fingers crossed they stay clear of injuries.

Sam Hoare
16 Posted 22/05/2015 at 11:43:31

Garbutt could well be a red by the time the tournament takes place if you believe the gossip rags. Hopefully they are wrong as usual.

Mark Murphy
17 Posted 23/05/2015 at 14:20:42

Garbutt is off to Bournemouth. My colleague was sat next to Eddie Howe on the BA to Pisa last Monday. Distin going with him.

Charles Barrow
18 Posted 24/05/2015 at 18:48:29

That makes sense as the beach in Bournemouth is ace.

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