![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1750529231_253_Alex-Dicken-Birmingham-Mail.jpg\")
<\/p>\nJay Stansfield has led the line for England’s Under-21s at this summer’s European Championships<\/p>\n
Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail<\/p>\n
![\"England](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_JS373538460.jpg\")
England under-21s head coach Lee Carsley gives instructions to Jay Stansfield<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s more than a goalscorer.\u201d Jermain Defoe hit the nail on the head when analysing Birmingham City<\/a> striker Jay Stansfield\u2019s<\/a> contribution for England under-21s at this summer\u2019s European Championships.<\/p>\n Stansfield is expected to lead the line for England in this evening\u2019s final against Germany having been drafted into the starting XI by Lee Carsley for the knockout stages.<\/p>\n A substitute in England\u2019s three group games, Stansfield has become an irreplaceable starter with hugely impressive showings against Spain and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n England played without a striker in their first three matches and have reaped the rewards of having one like Stansfield, who isn\u2019t obsessed by individual goals but collective ones.<\/p>\n Stansfield, 22, has been a pressing machine for England out in Slovakia. It was his press that facilitated Harvey Elliott\u2019s crucial second goal against Spain in the quarter-finals and what has earned him the nickname, \u2018The Pitbull\u2019, in the England camp.<\/p>\n Nowadays it is all too easy to look at a forward\u2019s numbers \u2013 and Stansfield has just enjoyed a 23-goal season with Blues \u2013 but what they do off the ball is equally important in the modern game.<\/p>\n Stansfield is built to press. Having a weapon like that spearhead your team is invaluable and why Blues manager Chris Davies favoured Stansfield through the middle last season. No one else presses quite like he does.<\/p>\n Breaking it down for Channel 4, Defoe \u2013 a winner of 57 England senior caps and scorer of 20 goals \u2013 said: \u201cA lot of the clips we see, he sets off the press. A big part of the England DNA is protecting the middle and showing people outside and he does that with intensity. You want players who press but he presses with a purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe Cole has been similarly impressed by Stansfield. He said: \u201cWhen you set a press, you are only as good as your forward players. They have to do it and he does it with aplomb.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a midfield player behind him, when you see your centre-forward doing that, you\u2019re like, \u2018Right, we\u2019re on this today.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you play for England you leave that pitch with sweat dripping and this kid did.\u201d<\/p>\n A season which has seen Stansfield play 51 times for club and country and win the first trophy of his career could yet see him crowned a European champion.<\/p>\n Should Stansfield play centrally for Blues next season? Have your say HERE<\/a>Get the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n BirminghamLive has its very own Birmingham City<\/a> WhatsApp community to deliver the latest headlines straight to your phone. 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Read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jay Stansfield has led the line for England’s Under-21s at this summer’s European Championships Birmingham City reporter for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,748,393,4884,1206,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-221106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-jay-stansfield","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}