Academy defenders Elijah Upson and Harry Byrne have this month earned their first international call-ups, with the pair selected to represent England Under-18s and Republic of Ireland Under-19s respectively.
Centre-back Elijah, son of ex-Premier League player and senior Three Lions star Matthew Upson, joins up with England’s youth team after a terrific start to the season for us.
Having captained our Under-18s in the opening weeks of the campaign, the 17-year-old was outstanding on his debut for our Under-21s in their 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at the end of September and also impressed on his first start in the UEFA Youth League last week as we secured a 6-0 victory at Bodo/Glimt.
Elijah joins Jun’ai Byfield and Tynan Thompson in the England Under-18s squad for back-to-back home friendlies against France this week.
A left-back or central midfielder, Harry joins the Republic of Ireland’s ranks at Under-19 level after continuing to impress for our Academy sides.
A regular starter in the Under-18 Premier League throughout last term, he has shaken off an injury picked up in pre-season to star in the UEFA Youth League so far this campaign, bagging a superb goal and an assist in last week’s 6-0 win in Bodo. He also supplied an assist in our 5-3 home victory over Villarreal last month.
He’ll travel with Ireland’s youngsters for consecutive friendlies away to Albania this week.
Congratulations to both Elijah and Harry!
In addition, Under-18s winger Leon Myrtaj joins up with Hungary Under-19s for the first time during this international window, having previously represented Albania up to Under-17 level.