Loftus-Cheek, Kane in England U21 squad 
Ruben Loftus-Cheek made his debut for Chelsea in December 2014.
Uncapped Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been named in the preliminary England under-21 squad for next month’s European Championship.
Loftus-Cheek, 19, has been capped by England up to under-19 level but could now travel to the Czech Republic with Gareth Southgate’s under-21 team after being involved in the Chelsea first team over recent weeks.
Striker Harry Kane, who has scored 31 goals for Tottenham Hotspur this season, is also included in the interim 27-man squad, which will be reduced to 23 players for the tournament. Despite being promoted to senior squad, and scoring 78 seconds into his debut against Lithuania, Kane was always admant that he wanted to travel.
The 27-man U21s squad will be reduced to 23 for the #U21EUROS, which start on 17 June: http://t.co/z9oQyHWQO7 pic.twitter.com/anavingsdw
– England (@england) May 20, 2015
Kane’s situation is complicated by the fact that Spurs play a friendly in Malaysia on May 27 and in Sydney three days later. The under-21 squad is due to meet on June 2, but Kane will join up later on with the party not due to fly out until June 14.
However, with just 18 days between the end of the tournament and the start of the 2015-16 season, Kane could miss the start of the new Premier League campaign.
Southgate praised Kane and said of his decision to include him in the squad : “He’s had a fantastic season first and foremost and he’s been a big part of our team and I think that’s important for all of the group.
“[It’s] a great stage for Harry to show people his ability on the international stage in a top tournament and good for his development, and good for the group so we’re able to take as strong a squad as we can.”
On his relationship with Tottenham, Southgate confirmed that the Premier League club support his decision, adding: “Tottenham are one of our best clubs — in terms of all of the age groups — that we work with.
“A tremendous number of our good young players at every level work at Spurs and I’ve got a really good relationship with Mauricio [Pochettino].
“Always at this moment, if you say to any club ‘would you prefer that the player didn’t go away all summer and play?’, I’m sure all 16-17 clubs would say ‘ideally not’ but you agree that in the end we’d like to take the best players to the tournament and give them that experience.
“I think that’s been the basis of the discussion that we had and we’re grateful for their support, as we are with all of the other clubs.”
Southgate was confident there would be no issue with burnout for Kane. He said: “Whenever we’re dealing with the younger players, we have to manage their load in training and we’ll give them some additional time.
“We have to be sensible with them. It’s more important with the younger players as they’re still maturing physically but Harry’s physically in a very good condition and that’s been noticeable. The work that he’s done this year with Spurs, he’s shown his strength and that’s noticeable.”
Other players with senior caps to be selected by Southgate are Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland, Arsenal’s Calum Chambers, Arsenal’s Carl Jenkinson and Everton defender John Stones. Saido Berahino, who was the top goal-scorer in qualifying, has been called up to the seniors by coach Roy Hodgson in the past but is yet to win a full cap.
Prolific Wolves striker Benik Afobe, who was signed from Arsenal in January, is selected for the under-21s for the first time in over two years.
Ross Barkley, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw and Raheem Sterling were also eligible for the squad but will not make the trip to the Czech Republic.
Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal said Shaw needs to rest this summer after an injury-plagued season.
On his decision to leave out Barkley, Phil Jones and Oxlade-Chamberlain along with Sterling, Southgate said: “Raheem played before last summer for us and we feel has been a regular first-choice pick for the senior team and this squad have played very closely with Roy.
“We’ve talked — across the two years — every time about what’s the right thing for each player, what’s the right experience. We sat down yesterday and finalised what we want to do.
“[Hodgson]’s been really supportive as clearly there are a couple of players here in an ideal world that he could have taken with the seniors in June. But he’s wanting to look longer-term, at what’s better for the youngsters to come into his squad with the best experience possible.
“This group of players, what we’re most looking forward to is seeing how they perform, transferring what they’ve been doing for the last couple of years into a tournament situation.”
England’s campaign starts against Portugal on June 18, before they face Sweden three days later and Italy on June 24.
The Young Lions qualified for the tournament with an almost perfect record. They dropped two points — and conceded just two goals — in their qualifying group before beating Croatia 4-2 on aggregate in a playoff last October.
They play their first match in the tournament against Portugal on June 18 before taking on Sweden and Italy.
Southgate’s team will play a friendly against Belarus on June 11 in Barnsley before departing for the Czech Republic.
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