John Swift has been called up to the England Under-21 squad for a pair of European Championship Qualifiers later this month. The Young Lions travel to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Thursday 12 November before hosting Switzerland at Brighton and Hove Albion’s American Express Community Stadium four days later.
Gareth Southgate’s side are third in Group Nine of qualifying for the tournament which will be held in Poland in 2017. The Young Lions have a perfect record in qualifying so far after wins over Kazakhstan and Norway and are a point behind the top two in the group but with games in hand. The winners of the nine groups will automatically qualify for the tournament, with the best four second-placed sides going into a play-off to decide the other two participants in Poland.
John, who is on loan at Griffin Park from Premier League side Chelsea until January 2016, has been capped at every level between Under-16 and Under-20 by England but is yet to appear for the Under-21s. The Portsmouth born midfielder has made eight appearances for Lee Carsley’s side since joining in October, scoring his first Brentford goal in the 3-0 win away at Charlton Athletic last month.