Injury ends John Flanagan’s hopes of making his England under-19s debut this week

May 30 2011 by James Pearce, Liverpool Echo

LIVERPOOL defender John Flanagan’s hopes of making his England Under-19s debut have been dashed by a calf injury.

The 18-year-old full-back was set to take his bow in their European Championship qualifiers this week but has been forced to return home from Switzerland

“I’m obviously disappointed, particularly as I’ve not played for England before,” Flanagan said.

“But I won’t let it overshadow what has been a very good season for me and I’ll be raring to go when pre-season gets underway.”

Liverpool still have five players in the England squad for the elite qualifying round matches against Montenegro, Spain and host nation Switzerland.

Jack Robinson, Andre Wisdom, Conor Coady, Thomas Ince and Michael Ngoo are all in Noel Blake’s 17-man squad. Jonjo Shelvey was also initially selected but he’s sidelined by a knee problem

The first of three games is against Montenegro in Yverdone tomorrow and only one team will progress to the finals in Romania in July.

Meanwhile, Raheem Sterling has been voted Liverpool’s top Academy player of the season.

The 16-year-old winger produced some exceptional performances for Rodolfo Borrell’s under-18s side, including a stunning five-goal burst against Southend United in the FA Youth Cup.

The England Under-17s international polled 44% of the vote to finish ahead of striker Adam Morgan (23%) and Conor Coady (15%).