Pride Of Young Lions... Envy Of Europe

England youth policy up there with Belgium

- Richard Edwards

ENGLAND’S young players are the envy of European football.

They could help the country vie with the likes of Belgium and France for global domination – regardless of what happens at the European Championships.

That’s the view of Georges Leekens, the former Belgium boss who handed debuts to Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne, during his time in charge of the national team from 2010 to 2012.

The experienced Belgian is a huge admirer of the transformation in the English game over the past decade, having witnessed a similar change in Belgium’s own methods during his second stint as the country’s manager.

Leekens – who played against Liverpool for Club Brugge in the 1978 European Cup Final at Wembley – performed in an era when English football was seen as positively prehistoric by many on the continent.

Now he argues that many European nations are scrambling to keep up.