England beware: the harsh lessons of celebrating emerging stars too early

England U20

It was the summer of 2011 and England were making good progress through the U17 World Cup in Mexico. They would eventually fall 3-2 to Germany in their quarter-final, but this has been a successful first peak above the parapet for some of manager John Peacock’s players.

Raheem Sterling would, within four years, move to Manchester City for an astronomical fee, Nathaniel Chalobah progressed through the age-groups to become a regular in Chelsea’s matchday squad, and Jordan Pickford improves to become the most exciting English goalkeeping prospect of his generation.

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Seb Stafford-Bloor is a football writer at Tifo Football and member of the Football Writers' Association. He was formerly a regularly columnist for the FourFourTwo website, covering all aspects of the game, including tactical analysis, reaction pieces, longer-term trends and critiquing the increasingly shady business of football's financial side and authorities' decision-making.