Southampton: Saints keeper Angus Gunn in England squad for U21 Euros

Southampton goalkeeper Angus Gunn has been named in the England Under-21s squad for the Under-21s European Championships in June.

After working his way into the position of Saints’ number one in the second half of the 2018/19 season, he will be part of The Young Lions’ 23-man travelling party to Italy and San Marino.

Manager Aidy Boothroyd has picked a strong squad for the tournament and has plenty of Premier League and Championship talent to choose from.

After learning his trade in the second-tier on-loan with Norwich City, Gunn made 12 top-flight appearances during last season following his arrival at Saints from Manchester City.

He also looks set to stay as the club’s first-choice in goal with Fraser Forster expected to be moved out and Alex McCarthy slightly lower down the pecking order.

England will be looking to go one better than they did in this tournament back in 2017.

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Current Saints players James Ward-Prowse, Nathan Redmond, Matt Targett and Jack Stephens were involved as they reached the semi-finals in Poland and lost to Germany on penalties.

The Young Lions have won the Euros twice before back in 1982 and 1984 but not since then, but they will fancy their chances this year considering the talent they can call upon.

Gunn isn’t the only Saints player who will be playing international football in the upcoming weeks.

Both James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond received England senior call-ups for the Nations League finals starting next week as Gareth Southgate’s men face the Netherlands and potentially Portugal or Switzerland in the final.

Shane Long’s impressive late-season form also saw him called up for the Republic of Ireland’s squad for two upcoming European Championship Qualifiers against Denmark and Gibraltar.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was also included in Denmark’s group of players to take on Ireland and Gibraltar.

Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl will be watching on and hoping that his players get through their games unscathed ahead of an important 2019/20 pre-season.