Taylor: Why Conor is perfect for role
England U20 manager Peter Taylor has explained his thinking behind handing the captain's armband to Conor Coady ahead of this month's FIFA U20 World Cup.
Taylor announced yesterday that the Liverpool starlet would be the one to lead the Young Lions into battle over in Turkey.
Coady has plenty of experience in the skipper's role, having marshalled the Reds' U21s side expertly for some time.
He also guided England to glory in the European U17 Championships in 2010.
"Conor is a good lad," Taylor told FATV. "He's a good, young professional who pushes himself and he pushes his teammates.
"He also plays in a position [central midfield] which I think is quite important for a captain. He can get amongst his teammates a lot quicker.
"I'm very pleased for him and he's a very proud young player."
Jon Flanagan has also been named in Taylor's squad for the tournament, which begins for England with a clash against Iran on June 23.
They'll then go on to face Chile and Egypt before the group stage draws to a close a week later.
Full-back Jack Robinson was originally named in Taylor's 35-man preliminary squad to travel; however, the 19-year-old was called up by Stuart Pearce to play in the European U21 Championships in Israel.
"We're missing a couple of players who were nicely promoted to the U21s and that was good," said Taylor.
"But I've been really, really pleased with everybody and we're going to take a good squad out to Turkey with us.
"Everybody is fit and raring to go. Every time we have met up as a squad, the spirit has got better every time, so I'm really pleased with it.
"I think you can tell that the players are friends and you can tell that they have met each other before. It's nice that they have been through the system together at U17 and U19 level with their country."