Aston Villa youngsters Marc Albrighton, Nathan Delfouneso and Kyle Walker have been named to the 40-man provisional squad for the England U-21 squad, which play in the European Championship finals this July in Denmark. The squad has to be down to 23 men by June 1, but it sure seems as though these three will make it. Walker was included for the senior England squad, if you remember. Elf and Delf have both played in the qualification matches, with Delfouneso scoring two goals in seven appearances.
***An aside: do you guys like newsy posts, or have you already gotten the news elsewhere by the time the coffee has hit my brain and I can write?***
Of course, by June, Kyle Walker will likely no longer be a Villan. He can call the club "perfect", but that's not going to keep him around. Albrighton, yes -- I think Villa know that if they try to sell Elf there will be a riot in Birmingham. As for Delfouneso, what is his role? I don't think he's going anywhere permanently. Emile Heskey will likely be gone soon enough (to the Seattle Sounders, if Aaron has his way). We could very well see Delf paired up top with Darren Bent in a 4-4-2 ... but god help us if it's a team that's not playing the same formation. Please, Villa, don't make us go through another match like West Brom.