Former Shrewsbury Town loanee Ben Godfrey thriving with England U21s

Everton defender Godfrey is hoping to make his eighth appearance for the Young Lions tonight when they get the group phase of their European U21 Championship campaign under way against Switzerland in Slovenia.

The 23-year-old wore the captain’s armband on his full debut for Boothroyd’s side against Kosovo in 2019 and relishes the extra responsibility.

“Being a leader is something that I’ve done since a young age and it’s something that I want to go on and do later on in my career as well,” he said. “It’s just something that I enjoy doing – setting standards and helping people, driving people forward.

“As for the team, you know we’ve got a lot of young players, so it’s important as a senior member that I do that.

“There’s a few of us as well to help keep those standards high and help people out when they need it.”

Godfrey has won plenty of accolades this season since joining Everton from Norwich for a reported £25million in October.

He has already been compared to former England centre-half Rio Ferdinand following some outstanding displays in several different positions in Carlo Ancelotti’s defence – and starred in Shrewsbury’s midfield when Town reached the play-off final under Paul Hurst in 2017/18.

“I feel that’s natural for anyone when things are going well,” he said. “You naturally feel a little bit more confident.

“You mentioned the comparison and that’s not something I tend to look at. I have my own goals and things that I want to improve on and I have to work hard to learn.

“I’m very fortunate enough to have good people around me and good staff at the club I’m with at the minute to help me do that.”