The UEFA Nations League has finished and the last batch of June Euro 2024 qualifiers takes place tonight, so after that, you might think live football is parked until the beginning of pre-season. Think again.
On Wednesday, the European Under-21 Championship gets underway, with Romania and Georgia as co-hosts. Three current Liverpool players will be in action at the tournament, while a number of players linked with moves to Anfield – including some of the Reds’ primary transfer targets – are also in line to feature.
Here’s a rundown of the youngsters who are bound to catch the attention of Kopites between now and the final on 8 July, along with the dates that you can see them weaving their magic on the pitch.
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England
Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones have both featured abundantly for Jurgen Klopp’s first team already and are the two current Liverpool representatives at the Under-21 Euros.
The former comes into the tournament with eight caps at that level for England, while the Reds academy graduate has netted four times in 15 caps, with a goal and an assist in a 4-0 win over France in March.
Both will likely feature prominently for Lee Carsley’s side at the finals.
Fixtures: Czechia (22 June, 5pm), Israel (25 June, 5pm), Germany (28 June, 5pm)
Czechia
Vitezslav Jaros is yet to make a senior competitive debut for Liverpool, although he could be given an opportunity to start for his country at the Under-21 Euros because of injury to fellow goalkeeper Matej Kovar.
The 21-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Stockport, has been capped three times by Czechia at under-21 level and could be in line to double that tally by the end of the group stage, if indeed he is entrusted as first-choice ‘keeper by Jan Suchoparek.
If that happens, he’ll come up against two clubmates in Elliott and Jones in his nation’s first match at the tournament on Thursday.
Fixtures: England (22 June, 5pm), Germany (25 June, 5pm), Israel (28 June, 5pm)
France
There’ll be plenty of names in the French under-21 squad with a familiar ring for Liverpool fans, with three in particular standing out.
Khephren Thuram has been one of the main transfer targets at Anfield this summer, and having been called up to the senior Les Bleus squad earlier in the year, he’s back representing his nation at underage level for this tournament.
Manu Kone is another France under-21 midfielder to have been linked with the Reds, and while those rumours have cooled of late, Kopites might still be intrigued to see how he performs. He’s won seven caps at this level but missed a friendly win over Mexico on Friday due to muscular problems.
Lyon striker Bradley Barcola is a name who’s surfaced more recently in terms of Liverpool transfer interest. He broke into the U21 setup during the spring, getting his first two caps against England and Spain, but whether he’ll start in a talent-packed French forward line remains to be seen.
Fixtures: Italy (22 June, 7:45pm), Norway (25 June, 7:45pm), Switzerland (28 June, 7:45pm)
Netherlands
Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg will unfortunately miss the tournament due to injury, but the Dutch still have a few names who’ll be of interest to Reds fans.
Among those is the heavily linked Ryan Gravenberch, who already has 11 senior caps but has dropped out of Ronald Koeman’s squad amid a lack of game-time at Bayern Munich, an issue about which he has publicly complained. He started in a goalless draw against Japan in a warm-up friendly last week.
Van den Berg was due to partner Micky van de Ven in the centre of defence, with the latter seeming to indicate that he’d be open to a move away from Wolfsburg. He’s won eight caps for the Oranje’s under-21s and captained them on his last two appearances.
Goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was mentioned as a possible Liverpool target during the spring but those links seem to have dried up. The Anderlecht stopper made his U21 debut against the Japanese last week, although he mightn’t be a starter at the tournament.
Fixtures: Belgium (21 June, 5pm), Portugal (24 June, 5pm), Netherlands (27 June, 5pm)
Spain
One name stands out among the crop of Spanish midfielders selected for the finals – Gabri Veiga.
Liverpool are believed to have submitted an enquiry for the in-demand Celta Vigo gem, who’s also been linked with a few other Premier League clubs lately.
The 21-year-old has just one cap so far for his country’s U21 side, which was given to him by current senior team boss Luis de la Fuente last November, but he’ll surely add to that over the next few days considering how magnificent a season he had with his club.
If a match-winning brace against LaLiga champions Barcelona to help ensure Celta’s top-flight survival doesn’t catapult him into the starting line-up, we’re not sure what will.
Fixtures: Romania (21 June, 7:45pm), Croatia (24 June, 7:45pm), Ukraine (27 June, 7:45pm)
The quarter-finals will take place on 1 and 2 July, with 5pm and 8pm starts on both days. The semi-finals will be played on 5 July (5pm and 8pm), with the final on Saturday 8 July with a 5pm kick-off.
All kick-off times are listed in GMT.
Full squads can be viewed at UEFA.com. All information on players’ caps is sourced from Transfermarkt.