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Aston Villa’s England presence has disappeared – but who could be next?
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- Aston Villa’s England presence has disappeared – but who could be next?
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Supporting England has had an extra little Aston Villa subplot attached to it over the last few years, because we have become accustomed to watching our own players involved and, at different points, becoming increasingly important members of the national team.
Ollie Watkins , Ezri Konsa and Morgan Rogers all gave us that. Watkins went from somebody fighting to establish himself internationally to scoring one of the most memorable England goals of recent times against the Netherlands at Euro 2024, Konsa gradually forced his way into the side after spending far too long on the outside looking in, while Rogers' rise was probably the quickest and most exciting of the three because we were watching a player develop at Villa at almost exactly the same time as he was establishing himself with England.
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That has now disappeared remarkably quickly. Rogers left for Chelsea during a summer in which Villa had to make some difficult decisions around the squad, Konsa subsequently joined Arsenal and Watkins eventually departed for Saudi Arabia , meaning an England squad that not so long ago regularly contained three Villa players suddenly does not contain one.
It is only a little sidebar when you are watching your country, of course, but it is a nice one. There is always a bit more interest when somebody you watch every week for Villa is involved, particularly when you have followed the journey that has taken them there. The obvious question now is who might be next, and there are three names at Villa who stand out for very different reasons.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis
Harwood-Bellis is clearly the most obvious because, technically, he has already done it. The defender won his first senior England cap against the Republic of Ireland in November 2024 and marked it by scoring, having previously represented England throughout the age groups and captained the Under-21s to European Championship success in 2023.
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His challenge is getting back there, and I think that makes the next phase of his Villa career particularly interesting because he was bought after Konsa's departure and, although they are very different defenders, there is now a position available at Villa which we know England are prepared to look at. Konsa became an international while playing here and Harwood-Bellis has the advantage of already being known extremely well within the England pathway.
He has had to be patient since arriving from Southampton, but that does not alter the longer-term picture. Villa have invested substantially in a player they clearly expect to become an important part of the squad and, at 24, there is still plenty of development ahead of him, particularly when he is now working every day with Unai Emery and within a team that expects to compete towards the top end of the Premier League and in Europe.
If Harwood-Bellis can establish himself in Emery's defence, it would hardly be surprising to see his name return to the England conversation. Of the three players who look capable of becoming Villa's next senior England international , his is comfortably the shortest journey because he has already reached the destination once.
George Hemmings
Hemmings is probably the most fascinating one because we are watching the whole thing develop in front of us.
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He has gone from an academy player we were excited about to somebody Emery is genuinely prepared to use, and that is a considerable jump in a relatively short period of time. He started the Super Cup against Paris Saint-Germain , has been trusted with senior opportunities and has continued his progression through the England youth system, which means his development for club and country is happening almost alongside one another.
There is obviously an enormous difference between youth international football and the senior England team, so there is no point getting carried away, but Hemmings is doing the things you would want a potential future international to be doing at his age. He is around Premier League football every week, working under an elite manager, being exposed to European football and progressing through England's age groups at the same time.
Perhaps most importantly, he doesn't look out of place when he is given those opportunities. There are areas of his game which will develop and there will inevitably be fluctuations because of his age, but physically and technically he already looks capable of existing at this level, while the opportunity created by all the changes Villa made during the summer could ultimately accelerate his development considerably.
There is also something particularly satisfying about the possibility of the next Villa England player developing from within. We have spent a lot of money and signed a lot of internationals during this era, but producing somebody who establishes himself for Villa and then works his way through the England pathway would be another indication of how much the club has changed and how important the academy can become within the wider project.
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Brian Madjo
Madjo is probably the biggest wildcard of the three because he is still only 17 and we have barely seen him at senior level, but there is another reason why his development will be watched particularly closely from an England perspective. For all the attacking talent England have produced over the last decade, there is no obvious natural successor to Harry Kane as the country's number nine and even Thomas Tuchel has publicly acknowledged the problem, saying earlier this year that "there is no second Harry Kane."
That obviously doesn't mean we should suddenly place that burden on a 17-year-old who has played a tiny amount of senior football, but it does make Madjo's profile particularly interesting. England have plenty of players who can operate across the front line and plenty who want to play off the striker, but finding somebody with the physical and goalscoring qualities to eventually lead the line is a completely different question. Madjo is powerful, quick and already appears to have that natural instinct for arriving in positions where chances are going to fall, which is why the reaction to his extraordinary performance against PSG went beyond Villa supporters simply getting excited about one of their own.
In fact, the England conversation started almost immediately. Gabriel Agbonlahor was discussing him on talkSPORT after the Super Cup and, while rightly stopping short of declaring him the next England striker after Kane, said that if he were the FA he would be "fast-tracking him", while Emile Heskey has subsequently spoken about Madjo potentially becoming Kane's long-term successor. There were similar conversations elsewhere in the media after a 17-year-old had given Marquinhos and Willian Pacho an evening they will not forget in a hurry.
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You could understand why people got excited. Madjo scored on his competitive Villa debut against the European champions and became the youngest goalscorer in Super Cup history, but it was the overall performance rather than simply the goal which stood out. He kept getting himself into dangerous positions despite missing earlier opportunities and physically caused problems for two centre-backs who are accustomed to dealing with the very best forwards in Europe.
There is an enormous amount of development still to come and injury has unfortunately interrupted the momentum he generated that night, so talking about the senior England team should remain a long way down the list of priorities for now. The first job is getting him fit, getting him Premier League minutes and allowing Emery to develop him without every performance becoming some kind of referendum on whether he is going to become England's next number nine.
But the pathway is there. Madjo has already been involved at England youth level and, when you combine his age, physical profile, goalscoring instincts and the lack of an obvious young English centre-forward waiting behind Kane, you can understand why that conversation started so quickly after the PSG game.
It might take years and plenty has to happen before it becomes a realistic discussion, but of the young players at Villa, Madjo is the one where you can look at both his potential and a very obvious future need within the England team and wonder just how far he could eventually go.
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None of this means Villa are suddenly going to have three England internationals again in the immediate future. Harwood-Bellis needs to establish himself in the Villa team first, Hemmings is only beginning his senior career and Madjo is younger still, but perhaps that is what makes this next period interesting.
We became used to Watkins, Konsa and Rogers turning up for England and it almost became normal to have a little Villa interest whenever the international breaks came around. Now those three have gone, we are back to watching the next group develop and wondering who might eventually take their place.
Harwood-Bellis has already worn the shirt, Hemmings is climbing through the system while becoming increasingly involved at Villa and Madjo might have the longest journey ahead of him but plays in the position where England arguably have the biggest long-term question to answer.
For the moment, we will have to watch England without that little bit of claret and blue attached to it. I don't think we will necessarily be waiting forever.
