England Under-16s clinched a record eleventh Sky Sports Victory Shield title in Inverness this evening with a 4-2 win over Scotland, with six young Chelsea players central to their success.
Defenders Ola Aina and Aaron Hayden, midfield trio Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Connor Hunte and Charlie Colkett and striker Alex Kiwomya all featured in the home nations series and played integral parts in Kenny Swain’s team en route to glory.
Loftus-Cheek, a 15 year-old central midfielder who has made a team-high twelve appearances for Adie Viveash’s Chelsea Under-18 team this season, captained the Three Lions in the first two matches of the campaign against Northern Ireland and Wales, getting on the scoresheet in the latter and impressing with his control of the game.
Kiwomya also netted against Wales and came off the bench against Scotland to continue a fine personal season for the young forward, who leads the youth team with six goals this season and has made his reserve debut before the age of 16.
Under-15 quartet Aina, Hayden, Colkett and Hunte are all very much for the years to come but played their roles throughout, with Hunte getting England on the way with an early strike in their first game against Northern Ireland at Chesterfield. He would also provide an assist for Mason Bennett in the same game.
They join a host of academy youngsters who have won the competition in recent years, including but not limited to John Swift, Jordan Houghton, Fankaty Dabo, Aziz Deen-Conteh, Jamal Blackman, Nathaniel Chalobah and Josh McEachran.
Congratulations to all of them.