Levi Colwill increasingly likely to travel with England squad to Malta for European Championship qualifiers

The Chelsea centre-back was named in the England U21s squad on Wednesday for the upcoming European Championships in Romania and Georgia, but he has been training with Gareth Southgate’s senior squad this week.

He was added to seniors training in order to make up defensive numbers after Lewis Dunk dropped out through injury.

Dunk had been rewarded for a strong end to the season with Brighton, having only previously been capped in November 2018. He and Colwill were team-mates last season when the 20-year-old spent the season on loan from Chelsea at Brighton.

Colwill is thought of highly by Southgate, and the fact he was training with the seniors on Wednesday rather than joining up with the U21s on the day their Euros squad was announced suggests he is now increasingly likely to travel with the England seniors to Malta rather than board the U21s plane to Georgia on Thursday.

The England men’s team face Malta on Friday and host North Macedonia at Old Trafford on Monday in Euro 2024 qualifiers.

If Colwill does remain with the senior side, he would then fly out to Georgia to join up with the U21s late, but in time to feature in their first game at the tournament — which sees them face the Czech Republic in Batumi on 22 June.

Meanwhile, Brighton are reportedly ramping up their efforts to sign Colwill permanently, having already had a £30million bid rejected by Chelsea.

John Stones, Harry Maguire, Marc Guehi and Tryone Mings are the four players in the England senior squad at present.