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England drawn in difficult group for U21 European Championships next summer

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Aidy Boothroyd will be hoping to win the tournament next summer (Getty Images)

England U21s have been drawn against France, Croatia and Romania in Group C of the European Championships held in Italy and San Marino next summer.

Aidy Boothroyds side will go into the tournament as one of the favourites to win it having strung together a 22-game unbeaten run, stretching back to a 1-0 defeat to Germany in March 2017.

In the most recent international break, England beat Italy 2-1 before thrashing Denmark 5-1 and clearly there is plenty of confidence amongst the current crop of players.

There is plenty of promise in Englands squad at present with Dominic Solanke (Liverpool), Reiss Nelson (Hoffenheim), Phil Foden (Manchester City) and Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham) all catching the eye recently.

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Plenty of players in the senior squad will be eligible to take part in the European Championships next summer too including the likes of Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) and Ben Chilwell (Leicester City).

They wont have things all their own way in Italy and San Marino, though, with France likely to provide the sternest competition. West Hams Issa Diop and Arsenals Matteo Guendouzi were both named in the The Little Blues most recent squad, while highly-rated Lyon duo Tanguy Ndombele and Houssem Aouar.

England will also be looking to emulate the senior side by getting the better of Croatia. England beat Croatia at Wembley last week and drew with them in the Nations League to partially exact revenge for the World Cup semi-final defeat in the summer.

Other nations that England will be wary of facing in the knockout stages are hosts Italy, four-time winners Spain and Germany, who knocked the Three Lions out at the semi-final stage on penalties in 2017.