Young Spurs striker drafted into England U21 set up
By Tom Vinall
Young Tottenham Hotspur striker Dane Scarlett, currently on loan at newly promoted Oxford United in the Championship, where he is struggling for regular minutes, has been drafted into the England U21 squad, having initially joined up with the U20 set up at the beginning of this international break.
Scarlett made his debut for the England U21s last year, under current England interim manager Lee Carsley, replacing Liam Delap for the final 27 minutes of a 3-0 U21 Euro qualification win over Luxembourg. Current England first team players such as the likes of Rico Lewis, Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer also featured in that game.
The 20-year old comes in ahead of two huge games for England U21s, with qualifiers against Ukraine and then Azerbaijan absolutely must win if they are to qualify for the U21 Euros next summer, a tournament that they won in 2023.
There will be a chance for Scarlett to feature tomorrow night, as England host Ukraine, who currently sit five points above them at the top of the group. Anything other than a win for the three lions will see Ukraine qualify for the tournament instead. Kick off is 19:45 BST. Meanwhile, the game against Azerbaijan is on Tuesday night, with kick off for that game being 19:30 BST. Hopefully it will not be a dead rubber by that point.
The aforementioned Liam Delap has made a wonderful start to life in the Premier League with Ipswich Town, so will be extremely difficult to oust him from the XI, but there is still a possibility that Scarlett could have a part to play at some point.
He will join up with current Spurs first team player Archie Gray who was called up once again by interim U21 manager in the absence of Carsley, Ben Futcher. However, Spurs targets Hayden Hackney and Adam Wharton have both been recalled by their club sides to manage injuries.