England U20s coach Les Reed has said that he may call 16-year-old Town striker Dean Bowditch into his squad for the World Youth Championships later this year. The tournament was scheduled to be played in March in the United Arab Emirates but was postponed due to security fears.
Reed has seen a number of his more promising players move on to the U21s and even the full England squad and says he will start to look to promote from the younger age groups.
Bowditch, set to sign a full contract with Town after his 17th birthday this month, is certainly someone who is part of his plans: "I want to take quality players to that tournament.
"I realise that players like Glen Johnson (West Ham) who have already stepped up to the U21s and have cemented first team spots at club level, may not be available so I'm looking the other way, to the youth teams, with a view to fast-tracking some of the youngsters that we have coming through.
"It would be fantastic for players like Lee Croft (Manchester City), Luke Moore (Aston Villa), Dean Bowditch (Ipswich Town) and Steven Taylor (Newcastle) to have the experience of playing in the World Youth Championships."
The tournament will now be held in November and December and is still being played in the United Arab Emirates. England will face Columbia, Egypt and Japan in the group stages.
The Town striker is not in the squad for the Toulon tournament which the U20s are involved in later this month, although his brother Ben from Spurs is included.