Newcastle United midfielder Lewis Miley will represent England Under-19’s in this summer’s U19 European Championship.
Miley has been named in England U19’s final 21-man squad for the tournament that will be held in Romania. The competition will get underway in Bucharest on Friday 13 June when Spain U19’s face Denmark U19’s before the hosts take on Montenegro U19’s across the city.
England will get their campaign underway on Saturday 14 June when they face Norway in Ploiesti. Germany and the Netherlands are the other two countries in their group, with first and second place in each group progressing to a semi-final.
Miley has made five appearances for England U19’s to date and will look to add to those this summer. The 19-year-old played three times for the U19’s during the last international break and even captained his side during their goalless draw with Turkey.
Having begun the season on the treatment table after suffering a foot injury during pre-season, Miley had to be patient to get game time at both club and international level. However, he has been able to show enough during his brief performances for Newcastle United to impress Will Antwi enough to be brought back into the international fold.
Miley will not be the north east’s only representative in the squad, though, with Antwi also naming three Sunderland players. Goalkeeper Matthew Young and midfielder Chris Rigg, who has been linked with a move to St James’ Park, have also been called-up to the squad.
Tommy Watson, who will join Brighton this summer after agreeing a move to the Amex Stadium from Wearside, has also been named in the squad. Southampton’s Tyler Dibling has also been included.
England U19 squad in full
Goalkeepers: Finlay Herrick (West Ham United), Tommy Setford (Arsenal), Matthew Young (Sunderland)
Defenders: Zach Abbott (Nottingham Forest), Joe Johnson (Luton Town), Caleb Kporha (Crystal Palace), Jayden Meghoma (Brentford), Stephen Mfuni (Manchester City), Harrison Murray-Campbell (Chelsea), Triston Rowe (Aston Villa)
Midfielders: Tyler Dibling (Southampton), Kiano Dyer (Chelsea), Josh King (Fulham), Lewis Miley (Newcastle United), Chris Rigg (Sunderland)
Forwards: Samuel Amo-Ameyaw (RC Strasbourg), Shumaira Mheuka (Chelsea), Mikey Moore (Tottenham Hotspur), Tom Watson (Sunderland), Ethan Wheatley (Manchester United), Kadan Young (Royal Antwerp, loan from Aston Villa)
Eddie Howe’s Miley future admission
Injury issues and the form of the midfield trio ahead of him means Miley has been limited to just 19 appearances in all competitions for Newcastle United this season and has made just one Premier League start. Despite this, his head coach remains steadfast in his belief that Miley has a bright future at the club.
Speaking to the Gazette about the midfielder, Howe said: “There's fierce competition in that area, when you look at the starting three we had in there, outstanding players in their own right, then you've got Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff, two vastly experienced players behind those.
“Lewis is going to be an outstanding player for this club for many, many years but we need to help his recovery back into the first-team well and he's now getting himself back into a position where he's able to play.”
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