Euro 2016: How many of these six young England stars will be off to France?

The rise of the Three Lions’ next generation bodes well for next summer's tournament and beyond

Dele Alli marks his first start for England with the opening goal against France at Wembley on Tuesday (Reuters)

Wayne Rooney did not want to compare England’s new crop of players to the “golden generation”, and understandably so. But there can be little doubt, watching the continued development of the national side, that England have some very promising players on the rise. They are ready to play and compete already, and even if Euro 2016 is too soon for them to challenge, it does feel as if the 2018 World Cup will be better than the 2014 effort.

Five of those who started against France on Tuesday were born in 1993 or 1994, while Dele Alli, from 1996, is even younger. With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (1993) and Luke Shaw (1995) on their way back from injury, England have the core of a team that can look to 2018, Euro 2020 and beyond.

“It is exciting,” said Rooney, their captain and leader, who will hand this team over to the next generation. “Since I have been in the squad, I don’t think there have been so many young players. It is really exciting. We have got a really fit team with a lot of energy, and we try to use that to our advantage. I know the 2014 World Cup was not great, but before then you could see the players who were coming through. We have come together since that World Cup and shown good signs.”

Here, we run the rule over the six most promising players and assess where they are in their development.

Dele Alli

The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder was the star of Tuesday night for England, and the early lead candidate for the PFA Young Player of the Year award. England manager Roy Hodgson said he was “close to faultless” in central midfield, playing with the authority, athleticism and audacity that he has shown every week for Spurs, not least against Arsenal at the Emirates just before the international break.

Alli is a natural and has made the leap from MK Dons in League One to the Premier League with remarkable ease, showing that when it comes to player development there is no substitute for playing competitive football.

“It has been a crazy start to the season and it has all happened really quickly,” said Alli, who beat Hugo Lloris from 25 yards to score England’s opener. “Goals are a big part of my game, I scored a few last year at MK. Maybe in my first few games at Tottenham I didn’t show that, I wasn’t getting forward enough. But playing with Eric [Dier] gave me the licence to get forward, and that allowed me to get the goal.”

Eric Dier

Alli and Dier have combined to form the basis for Tottenham’s midfield, and Hodgson deployed them together on Tuesday night. It was Dier’s England debut, in a position which he only started playing regularly in August.

“If you told me in the summer that I would make my England debut in midfield, I would have thought you were crazy,” Dier joked afterwards. “I think [Spurs manager Mauricio] Pochettino was probably the only one who believed it at the beginning of the year.”

Dier spent his first season at Tottenham playing at right-back or centre-back but had played in midfield at Sporting Lisbon, and he has showed that he has the tactical awareness to adapt. “In the academy I used to play there sometimes,” he said. “I don’t really feel like a fish out of water in any of my positions.”

Dier watched England play at Euro 2004 in Portugal, where he grew up, and left England’s 2-1 defeat to France in tears. “It was a great occasion and brilliant to be part of,” he said. He could well be in the squad for Euro 2016.

John Stones

Gary Cahill looks certain to start for England at the Euros but there is an interesting battle between Stones and Chris Smalling to partner him. On Tuesday Stones played with all of the assurance and class he shows for Roberto Martinez’s Everton, and spoke afterwards about his new comfort in the team.

“You’ve got to keep doing what you know and not go into your shell,” Stones said. “The only way I am going to improve is to keep doing what I know, and taking risks. This was a great opportunity for me to do that.”

Tuesday was Stones’ seventh cap, and having been involved in the build-up to the 2014 World Cup, he knows the set-up well now. “I saw how hard the guys worked,” he said. “To go home and watch it on TV, and see the boys not do as well as they wanted, was tough.” Martinez has called Stones a future England captain, which Stones said was “humbling” and something he hopes to fulfil.

Harry Kane

Having started the season slowly, Kane has scored six goals in his last four Tottenham games. On Tuesday he was used as the lone centre-forward in a 4-3-3 system, even though that meant playing Rooney wide on the left.

Hodgson was keen to get Rooney, Kane and Raheem Sterling on the pitch together, and he did that, with Kane leading the line intelligently. He nearly played Alli through with a clever first-half through ball and the jump to international football looks well within the grasp of the 22-year-old, who has three England goals already. By the time of the Euros, Hodgson may want Rooney as a lone striker, with two quick wide players, but Kane must be assured of a place in the squad now.

Raheem Sterling

With the advantage of having already been to a major tournament, 20-year-old Sterling has more experience than many of his peers, even if he is one of the youngest.

Sterling’s versatility has impressed the England management, as it has Manuel Pellegrini, who has played him as a No 10, at the tip of the diamond, and on either wing. He started Tuesday night on the right, before switching to the left, assisting England’s second goal. Hodgson picked out that goal – “a good run by Sterling, an excellent cross and a wonderful finish” – and he is an almost certain starter in France next year.

Ross Barkley

There were fears last season that Ross Barkley was going backwards with Everton, after he failed to keep up the form he showed in Martinez’s first season at Goodison. But Barkley has grown this year, adding more responsibility to his explosive game, and he has been trusted with more responsibility in the friendlies against Spain and France.

“I know Ross Barkley has said he takes his England form back to Everton, and maybe one or two others are doing that as well,” said Hodgson. “Ross has been a starter in the majority of the Everton games, which wasn’t the case last year.”