Max Clayton plays 55 minutes for England and came through fine

Crewe Alexandra youngster Max Clayton played 55 minutes for England’s Under-19s at Telford last night and is fine to travel to Crawley later today. The England youngsters won 1-0 against Turkey in their final warm up match ahead of their preparations for the Elite Qualifying games in May against Scotland, Belgium and Georgia.

Our former player Nick Powell also played at the New Bucks Head Stadium and missed an injury-time penalty after winning it himself.

Steve told the club’s official web-site:  “I’ve spoken to Max this morning and he is fine. He came through it okay. He played 55 minutes and England won the game 1-0. He feels good which is good for us and he is in contention for tomorrow.

“I have a good relationship with the manager Noel Blake and we talk constantly about Max and other players. It is necessary to protect those young players as much as possible and Noel knows that he is in in our first-team.

“We have a good relationship with England and the other nations. I’m not sure if George (Ray) is playing for the Wales Under-21s tonight but he will join up with us afterwards. I am not sure he will be play Friday and Saturday, so we will see with him.

“We are also having dialogue with Guinea over Pogba. So far they have been very understanding and have helped us as much as possible with him joining up with them. They still want him to be involved with us as much as possible if we can and that’s healthy.”