England U19s prepare for Euro Finals at St. George's Park

The England Under-19s squad have enjoyed the second of three training camps this week as they prepare for next month’s Euro Finals.

Aidy Boothroyd and his squad assembled at St. George’s Park for three days last week and were back again earlier this week to continue work ahead of their trip to Germany in July.

And the group will meet up again for a third and final training camp at the national football centre on Sunday before Boothroyd will name his final 18-man squad for the Finals.

England face France, Croatia and Netherlands in their group stage games at the Euro Finals, which kicks-off on Tuesday 12 July with the Young Lions’ opener against France in Heidenheim.

They then face the Dutch three days later in Ulm before the final match against Croatia on Monday 18 July back at the Heidenheim Arena.

"We want to be involved in all of the best tournaments, as it’s what helps our players on their pathway to hopefully becoming full senior internationals," said Boothroyd.

"If we can get those experiences, it’s something which helps them as players for club and for country.

"When you get to this stage of the competition and you look at some of the teams who are not going, you realise how difficult it is to qualify and also the quality of the groups."

Should England finish in the top two of their group, then they will progress to the semi-final stage where they could face Germany, Italy, Portugal or Austria.

And there’s a potential further bonus as the tournament also acts as a qualification process for next year’s U20 World Cup in South Korea, if they finish in the top five of the Euros.

Many of the Under-17s squad who lifted the Euro title in 2014 are now part of the U19s squad preparing for July's Euro Finals

"If we do well in the early games, that could set us up for the U20 World Cup, which is the first aim for us," revealed Boothroyd.

"After that, we want to do very well in the tournament and this group has done very well in the past."

As Boothroyd alludes to, a number of his group were part of the England U17s squad who won the equivalent Euro title two years ago.

And whilst the squad has evolved since then with new players emerging to provide more competition for places, Boothroyd is convinced the winning mentality is still in place having worked with the group all season.

"It’s not exactly the same group that John Peacock had with the U17s, but the core is still there," explained the former Watford boss.

"Some of those players have fallen away and others have stepped up to the plate, so we have a slightly different squad but it’s still a very strong squad."