YORK City Knights product Greg Minikin has been named in the new England Knights squad - potentially being earmarked for the next World Cup.

It is a first international call-up for the Knaresborough-born threequarter, who played a key roll in helping Castleford Tigers top the Super League table for the first time ever last season, only to lose to Leeds in the Grand Final.

The 22-year-old is named in coach Paul Anderson's 25-man squad.

England Knights, effectively an England 'A' team, last played in 2013 but return as part of the newly formed England Performance Unit (EPU) led by rugby director Kevin Sinfield. Its aim, according to the Rugby Football League, is to develop more world-class players for the 2021 and 2025 World Cups.

Minikin, a former Wetherby Bulldogs junior, came through the youth system at York before making his first-team debut against Catalans Dragons in the Challenge Cup in May 2013, not long after turning 18.

He went on to make 43 appearances for the club, scoring 23 tries, and was named Press and Players' Player of the Year after a stellar 2015, before his switch to Cas. He was also shortlisted for the League One Young Player of the Year award that year.

He has since scored 30 tries in 48 appearances for the Tigers, being their second-top scorer last season with 22.

York head coach James Ford, Minikin's mentor through the old youth set-up, had predicted possible future international honours for his old protege prior to last year's Grand Final.

"I was always confident he'd be a good player," he'd said. "He's very down to earth. He'll know where he needs to improve and I'm sure he'll be working hard on those areas, so why not?"

England Elite Performance Squad: Luke Gale (Castleford), Mike McMeeken (Castleford), Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield), Scott Taylor (Hull), Ryan Hall (Leeds), Stevie Ward (Leeds), Kallum Watkins (Leeds), Jonny Lomax (St Helens), Tommy Makinson (St Helens), Mark Percival (St Helens), James Roby (St Helens), Alex Walmsley (St Helens), Tom Johnstone (Wakefield), Kevin Brown (Warrington), Daryl Clark (Warrington), Ben Currie (Warrington), Chris Hill (Warrington), Stefan Ratchford (Warrington), John Bateman (Wigan), Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan), George Williams (Wigan).

England Knights Performance Squad: Greg Minikin (Castleford), Jake Trueman (Castleford), Kruise Leeming (Huddersfield), Josh Bowden (Hull), Jake Connor (Hull), Dean Hadley (Hull), Masimbaashe Matongo (Hull), Jamie Shaul (Hull), Chris Atkin (Hull KR), Liam Sutcliffe (Leeds), Jack Walker (Leeds), James Cunningham (London Broncos), Joe Burgess (Wigan), Tom Davies (Wigan), Oliver Gildart (Wigan), Sam Powell (Wigan), Ryan Sutton (Wigan), Niall Evalds (Salford), Danny Richardson (St Helens), Luke Thompson (St Helens), Reece Lyne (Wakefield), Jack Hughes (Warrington), Tom Gilmore (Widnes), Danny Walker (Widnes), Matt Whitley (Widnes).