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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

England’s U-20 WC winners may struggle to play at clubs

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LONDON: England’s newly crowned Under 20 World Cup winners woke to back-page headlines acclaiming a golden generation on Monday and congratulatory tweets from a future British king and one of the country’s greatest sporting heroes.


But despite the plaudits from FA President Prince William and Geoff Hurst, hat-trick scorer in the 1966 World Cup final, a spotlight was shone on the difficulty most will face in even securing a club game once memories of Sunday’s 1-0 win over Venezuela fade.


England’s two standout performers, Dominic Solanke, who scored four goals and won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player, and Freddie Woodman, who made a superb penalty save in the final, are among those struggling to break through.


Solanke, 19, will join Liverpool on July 1 after rejecting a new contract at Chelsea because out of frustration at the lack of first-team opportunities. Ten years at the club where he came through the Academy yielded just one first-team appearance — 17 minutes as a substitute in a Champions league game against Maribor.


But Solanke may also struggle to play under Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp who on Monday was linked with a move for Monaco’s 18-year-old striker Kylian Mbappe. At Anfield, Solanke will join up with two other under 20 stars, Ovie Ejara and Sheyi Ojo, who remain on the first-team fringes.


The picture is similar for Woodman, whose face appeared on many English newspaper back pages. Last season the 20-year-old Newcastle keeper — godson of national manager Gareth Southgate — was loaned out to Scottish club Kilmarnock and admitted he is unsure where he will play after the summer.


“I am not sure what will happen at Newcastle,” Woodman told The Daily Telegraph. “I am just waiting for them to tell me when I am back in pre-season. I am a Newcastle player and my goal is to play for Newcastle one day.”


Former Newcastle and England striker Alan Shearer questioned how many of the side, who delivered the country’s first World Cup win at any level for 51 years, will see action in a league packed with foreign talent and governed by short-termism.


“How many top-flight managers will have been given a mandate to blood them and make them part of their first team,” Shearer wrote in The Sun. “How many managers will have had the patience to give these young players a chance-


— Reuters


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