European Under-21 Championships 2015: James Ward-Prowse ready to meet Roy Hodgson's great expectations

Southampton midfielder is a player the senior side's manager has his eye on for the future

James Ward-Prowse has been earmarked for rapid promotion to the full England squad by Roy Hodgson (Getty Images)

James Ward-Prowse is well aware that the next step he is expected to take after the Under-21s European Championship this month is into Roy Hodgson’s senior squad for the remainder of the Euro 2016 qualifiers and, possibly, to France for the tournament next summer. He knows that because Hodgson himself often says how highly he rates the Southampton man.

Ward-Prowse, 20, will be eligible to play for the Under-21s in the next round of qualifiers for the 2017 edition of the Euros but, after three seasons in the Premier League already, one gets the impression he is set for bigger things. In April, Hodgson spelt it out when it came to the neat and tidy midfield passer, whose delivery from set pieces has been compared to that of David Beckham.

“We like him,” Hodgson said, the week after Ward-Prowse had captained the Under-21s to a 3-2 win over Germany and scored the winner. “We’ve kept our hands off him simply because of the Under-21s but we know he’s a big prospect and the moment he comes back from the Czech Republic he’ll be very much in our thoughts.”

The blond-haired, slight-of-frame Southampton academy graduate – the son of a barrister – has become one of the poster boys for the Football Association’s developmental pathway. The FA talks of Ward-Prowse as a future England captain, but then those kinds of predictions have been a poisoned chalice to others in the past – and what matters now is the next two weeks.

Ward-Prowse will be up against many of the best of his age group in the next few weeks, starting with Bernardo Silva, the Portuguese playmaker in England’s first group game. Ward-Prowse is expected to partner Nathaniel Chalobah as one of the two holding midfielders in Gareth Southgate’s team against a very good Portugal side including William Carvalho.

A year younger than Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and almost three years younger than Jack Wilshere, this is a big test for a player of whom so much is expected. Hodgson will be coming out for the games, and Ward-Prowse, visiting a local school near England’s base in Olomouc with the FA, could hardly have missed his comments.

“It’s great to hear that, and gives me a good incentive that if I continue to perform well I’ll give myself a good chance to get into the senior squad,” he said. “This summer is a massive chance, a massive platform for us to go on. If we can perform individually it will stand us in good stead for the future.

“It’s exciting as playing for England is the pinnacle over everyone’s career, and it’s nice to know that it’s within touching distance. It’s just a case of performing well for my club and country and it’s there for all of us. I read it [Hodgson’s comments] in the newspaper and it was great to have that. It brightened up my weekend.”

He is a serious young man in a game which increasingly asks more and more of footballers at a younger age. Does the burden of playing for England at a tournament bother him? “No, playing for England is the best thing for us as players. Although we haven’t had that experience of winning trophies as a country, that’s all in the past and we’re trying to look forward.

“We want to change that perception of us as players by being successful and winning a trophy. I loved football growing up and my dad told me all about 1966. It would be great to do something like that.”

Southgate has tried to promote a culture in which the players see themselves as young adults as well as young footballers, and with Ward-Prowse you can see that responsibility fits comfortably. But, as ever, it is all about the game, and by the end of Thursday night he will have a clearer idea of where he stands.