The 20 year-old Blues captain, who has been part of the senior England squad for 18 months but has made only three substitute appearances, was one of 26 players who took part in the first Under-21 training camp at Lilleshall last month.

Now Bassett has been selected in the 18-player squad which will compete against several already well-established international Under-21 teams at the Nordic Tournament in Iceland during July.

She said: "Starting an Under-21 side was a great idea and it will definitely help players like me, who have played a lot of international football at youth level but haven’t had the chance to get much experience in the senior side.

"In the past a lot of players have faded from the international scene after impressing in the Under-17’s and Under-19’s, so the Under-21 side can fill the gap between youth and senior football and keep players developing at the top level.

"One of the good things about international Under-21 football is that you’re allowed a couple of over-age players in the team, so at our first training camp we had players ranging from 16 years of age to 24.

"The camp went really well – most of the girls knew each other from either being in England youth teams or playing against each other in League football, so everyone felt very comfortable and it was an enjoyable and constructive few days.

"After that we were all hoping to get a letter telling us we’d been picked in the squad for the tournament in Iceland. Only 18 of the 26 who were at Lilleshall could be involved, and I’m delighted to say I was one of the lucky ones."

As a completely new team it will be a tough task that England take on when, in what will be their first competitive action, they face Under-21 sides from some of the strongest women’s footballing nations in the world.

FIFA’s top three ranked nations - Germany, America and Sweden - will all be represented at the eight-team tournament, which is set to be played in Iceland during July 23rd-29th.

England will meet Sweden, Iceland and Denmark in Group A and then, depending on their final group placing, will play one of the Group B sides – USA, Germany, Norway and Finland.

Bassett said: "I’m really look forward to taking part in the tournament – it will be very hard against some very good teams, but we’ve got some top players in our squad and we certainly won’t be going to Iceland to make up the numbers."

England Women Under-21 Squad - Nordic Tournament

Name

 Club DoB
Eniola Aluko Charlton Athletic

21-Feb-87

Anita Asante Arsenal

27-Apr-85

Laura Bassett

Birmingham City

02-Aug-83

Ebony Caben-Gooden Langford Ladies

10-Jul-85

Faye Cardin Birmingham City

25-Sep-84

Karen Carney Birmingham City

01-Aug-87

Siobhan Chamberlain

 Fulham

15-Aug-83

Shelly Cox

 Birmingham City

16-May-84

Alex Culvin

 Leeds United

16-Nov-83

Stacey Daniel

 Leeds United

13-May-81

Nicole Emmanuel

 Leeds United

04-Jun-86

Vicky Gallagher

 Birmingham City

28-Apr-81

Kay Hawke Oldham Curzon

28-Mar-83

Ann-Marie Heatherson

 Charlton Athletic

27-Mar-84

Michelle Hickmott

 Fulham

20-Feb-85

Lindsay Johnson

 Everton

08-May-80

Hayley Kemp Arsenal

23-Jun-87

Julie Lowe

 Sunderland

30-May-87

Kelly McDougall Everton

22-Jan-84

Alex Scott

 Arsenal

14-Oct-84

Donnique Sinclair-Chambers

Charlton Athletic/Fulham

25-Sep-83

Jessica Smith Charlton Athletic 25-Aug-83
Joanne Traynor Liverpool 25-Nov-84
Toni-Anne Wayne Bristol Rovers

08-May-83

Emily Westwood Wolverhampton Wanderers    

05-Apr-84

Jess Wright Fulham

11-Sep-83