Four Man City players named in England U21 squad for European Championship

Cole Palmer, Tommy Doyle, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and James Trafford have been called up to the England Under-21 squad.

The Manchester City quartet have been selected by manager Lee Carsley to represent the Young Lions in the upcoming European Under-21 Championship. The tournament gets underway in Romania and Georgia next week.

England are in a challenging Group C alongside Germany, Czech Republic and Isreal but will be confident of advancing to the knock-out stages thanks to their strong squad brimming with Premier League experience.

City are strongly represented, though forward Cole Palmer is the only player to have remained with Pep Guardiola's squad for the entire campaign to be called up. The other three enjoyed successful seasons on loan in the Football League.

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Harwood-Bellis was a mainstay in the backline of Vincent Kompany's Championship-winning Burnley while Tommy Doyle was an integral part of the Sheffield United midfield which finished runners-up. He also scored the winning goal to send the Blades to the FA Cup semi-final, where they were defeated by the Blues.

Trafford spent the campaign at League One side Bolton Wanderers and kept the most clean sheets in the division as the Trotters made the play-offs but were eliminated in the semi-finals by Barnsley. The goalkeeper's impressive performances have seen him linked with a Premier League move.

Rico Lewis is somewhat of a surprise omission after his breakthrough season in the City first team while James McAtee, who also had a good season at Bramall Lane, has been left out as well.

England U21 squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Josh Griffiths (West Bromwich Albion), Carl Rushworth