0:31 England U21 head coach Aidy Boothroyd has revealed club rivals Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden are sharing a room together on international duty England U21 head coach Aidy Boothroyd has revealed club rivals Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden are sharing a room together on international duty

England U21 head coach Aidy Boothroyd says he has been hugely impressed by Mason Greenwood, before revealing the Manchester United forward is sharing a room with club rival Phil Foden on international duty.

Greenwood and Manchester City midfielder Foden have been included in the U21 squad together for the first time, with the United forward earning his first call-up to Boothroyd's side.

The 17-year-old has featured in all four of United's matches this season, including an impressive ten-minute cameo against Southampton on Saturday.

Greenwood has impressed for Manchester United since making his debut in March

"He's a very, very talented player," Boothroyd said. "He walks through the door and you instantly like him because he's such a humble, nice young bloke.

"He's rooming with Phil funnily enough so that's the two Manchester lads getting together and performing for England and also living together for a couple of weeks as well.

"Mason's a great talent, we've only had one session but he looks very impressive and will certainly add to the armoury we've got."

Nineteen-year-old Foden has featured 19 times in the Premier League for City since making his debut. Despite struggling for minutes so far this season, Boothroyd says his situation is not one to worry about.

Foden has played once in the Premier League so far this season

"Phil's working with the best players in the world and arguably the best coach in the world so he's going to get a lot of positives out of that," he added.

"He's not playing games but I think City and Pep [Guardiola] know what to do with him better than perhaps I would because they see more of him than I do."

'Never been a better time to play for England'

Since the summer's disappointing European Championship campaign - which saw Boothroyd's team exit the tournament at the group stage - three members of that squad have been called up to the senior side.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Mason Mount and James Maddison have all been selected by Gareth Southgate, and Boothroyd believes there has never been a better time to make the step up from the U21s.

1:16 Boothroyd says there has never been a better time to play for England after seeing Wan-Bissaka, Mount and Maddison promoted to the senior side Boothroyd says there has never been a better time to play for England after seeing Wan-Bissaka, Mount and Maddison promoted to the senior side

"It's great for me that although we had the disappointment of the summer, three stars have come out of it. They're all really good characters and I'm absolutely delighted for them," he said.



"There's never been a better time to be an England player with a guy who's brave enough to play them in Gareth.

"I think they're three very talented players and they make the most of themselves. They are working as hard as they can to be all that they can be.

"They deservedly got into the England squad and now they have to do that last bit of getting into the team and getting a few caps under their belt."

The U21s kick-off their new European qualifying campaign with a trip to Turkey on Friday, before they head home to play Kosovo in Hull three days later.