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Senior glory may have eluded the Three Lions so far but this is a golden age in the England youth set up. In 2017, the English became just the second nation to win FIFA's two male youth championships, hoisting the global crown at Under-17 and Under-20 level. Six years later a squad that includes three of the U-17 title winners won ttheir first U-21 European Championships for their nation since 1984.

Watching on was England head coach Gareth Southgate, who will surely have been wondering whether any of these burgeoning stars could make an impact in Germany next year as he bids to finally get over the senior tournament hump at Euro 2024. He is hardly lacking in youthful stars in his own senior squad -- the likes of Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Marc Guehi would all have been eligible for Lee Carsley's youth side -- but a little tournament-winning nous could go a long way. 

Here are seven players who could make the breakthrough.

Emile Smith Rowe

The only England U-21 player to have been capped by the senior team, at the start of last season Smith Rowe's eye would surely have been on featuring for Southgate in Euros qualifiers. However, a confluence of injuries and the form of others meant that the 22-year-old scarcely featured for Arsenal, registering just 161 minutes in the Premier League. He bettered that tally in Romania and Georgia even if he was one of many forwards rotated in and out of the XI by Carsley.

For Smith Rowe, the calculus is simple if he wants to go to Germany for Euro 2024: win back a sizeable role in Mikel Arteta's side. Assuming that Arsenal continue on their current trajectory then even fringe players in their team will get the same consideration as someone like Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips does. There will, however, still be the presence of Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish in Southgate's squad. For anyone to usurp even one of those two would be special indeed.

Levi Colwill

If England are blessed with options in attacking midfield, the same is not quite as true on the left side of central defense, where Harry Maguire has clung on to a starting berth solely by virtue of his form on the international stage. He can scarcely get a game for Manchester United. If that doesn't change might Southgate be tempted to look at Colwill, who trained with the senior team before travelling to the Euros?

At his best on loan to Brighton last season, Colwill was an imperious young center back. He is at ease carrying or passing the ball up the field, drawing the opposition press and exploiting the spaces that opens up. If he does the same in a Chelsea shirt next season he might well vault himself not just into Southgate's squad but perhaps even his XI. He is that good.

Morgan Gibbs-White

Along with Smith Rowe and Angel Gomes, Gibbs-White has carved himself a place in the history of England's youth setup, a world champion at U-17 level and now a European champion at U-21. It is an open debate who was the Young Lions' best player this summer but their most important was surely the Nottingham Forest man, who relished the responsibility thrust on him by Carsley.

Could he translate his starring role with Forest and the England U-21s to Southgate's side? Play almost certainly wouldn't go through him but if the Three Lions stick to a 4-3-3 then one could imagine Gibbs-White bringing creative spark to midfield alongside the progression and physicality of Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham. 

James Trafford

England became the first team to ever win the U-21 Euros without conceding a goal, in no small part thanks to the heroics of their goalkeeper. The headlines were all about Trafford after he saved a 99th-minute penalty, just as he predicted he would pre-match. 

"I told everyone this morning I was going to save a pen," he said amid the celebrations at the final whistle. "I knew I would save. It was pretty easy really. I told all my mates back home I was going to save one."

Trafford backed up his swagger throughout the tournament, facing shots worth 4.29 expected goals according to Wyscout's model and not being beaten once. There will be plenty of opportunities for him to prove this was not just a hot streak with the 20-year-old expected to depart Manchester City for Burnley now that the tournament is over. A £19 million price tag will certainly draw attention to the youngster but he rather seems to enjoy it.

Anthony Gordon

That Gordon was named UEFA's player of the tournament is impressive enough, that he won the prize having played out of position all the more so. Newcastle's £30 million man is a more natural left winger but in the absence of Folarin Balogun, now a U.S. senior international, he led the line with aplomb. Gordon was less of a target man, more a roving center forward who could drift from flank to flank to aid build-up.

"He played the whole tournament at a high level, scoring two goals and getting one assist," said UEFA's panel, while Gordon himself insisted that the prize could have gone to any of half a dozen of his teammates. 

He will face a challenge establishing himself when he returns to club level, however, particularly with Harvey Barnes bound to join him on the St. James Park flanks.

Jacob Ramsey

A key figure for Carsley before breaking his metatarsal in the quarterfinal win over Portugal, Ramsey will now be sidelined for up to 10 weeks, as significant a blow for Aston Villa as it is for the player himself. The 22-year-old made 35 appearances at club level last season, scoring six and providing seven assists. He and Gibbs-White will both be hoping to use this upcoming season to carve out a spot for themselves as one of Southgate's more attack-minded midfielders. There are just so many of them, though...

Curtis Jones

That is all the more apparent when you consider the depth of young English midfield talent at Liverpool alone. This spot might have gone to Harvey Elliott, the youngest player in the squad, who registered 168 minutes at the tournament. For club and country, he will find himself vying with Jones for a spot in the 4-3-3.

Jones showed impressive versatility throughout this tournament, saving his best displays for last as he won the man of the match prizes in both the semifinals and final. His 94 percent pass completion, the highest of any midfielder at the tournament, points to a player who can do the one thing England sides at all levels have historically struggled to do: dictate the terms of a contest, taking air out of it when they are leading or controlling territory when they need to chase the game. If he can keep the starting spot he won at Liverpool late last season -- no easy thing considering the arrival of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai this summer -- he seems as likely as anyone to break into Southgate's plans for Euro 2024.