Potential youth international blow emerges for Coventry, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Sunderland players | OneFootball

England Under-20 manager Ian Foster could be without some of his squad during the early stages of their World Cup campaign due to the Championship play-offs, according to The Sun.

The tournament in Indonesia starts on May 20th and with the U20 squad likely to be full of gifted players including Bristol City star Alex Scott, the Three Lions will have ambitions of going all the way and taking the trophy home.

However, some of their key stars may be involved in the play-offs, with Coventry City, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Sunderland all in contention to be in the top six at the end of the campaign.

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Boro and the Blades are likely to battle for third spot with one of them almost certain to finish in the play-offs considering Burnley’s lead at the top of the division.

That could affect Foster’s potential plans to include Aaron Ramsey and Daniel Jebbison in his squad, with the former establishing himself as a key starter at the Riverside and the latter likely to be wanted by Paul Heckingbottom.

Coventry and Sunderland are also in the mix for the play-offs and Callum Doyle and Brooke Norton-Cuffy currently ply their trade for the former, but are in contention to be picked.

In terms of the Black Cats, their lack of forwards could cost them a chance of securing a top-six finish but if they manage to, Joe Gelhardt is another man who may be wanted by Foster.

It’s currently unclear whether Foster would be forced or persuaded to leave these players out of his plans altogether if they did reach the play-offs.

The Verdict:

The season finishes on May 8th so you would imagine the semi-finals will take place the week after, something that could allow some of these players to get to Indonesia in time for the start of the tournament if they lose out in the last four.

However, the final doesn’t take place until 27th-29th of that month and that’s a blow because you would certainly back one of Boro or the Blades to get to the final, potentially limiting Ramsey or Jebbison’s involvement at the tournament.

Foster will be grateful that some of these stars have been given a chance to shine out on loan though, with Ramsey likely to win much more game time at the Riverside than he would have done at Aston Villa.

Similar applies with Doyle, Norton-Cuffy and Gelhardt, with the latter likely to be involved heavily in the absence of Ross Stewart at the Stadium of Light.

At the same time, Foster will want as much success as possible following their Euros win last year, with the World Cup potentially allowing the Three Lions’ coach to improve his CV if they can get far in the tournament.

He will need a strong squad to get to the latter stages of the competition though and that’s why he won’t want many of his key men to be involved in the play-offs.