FORMER York City midfielder Ben Godfrey has earned a call-up to the England under-20 squad.

Godfrey will also be joined in Paul Simpson’s 23-strong party by one-time York College student Ronaldo Vieira, who is currently plying his trade in Italy with Sampdoria.

The Three Lions team will entertain Poland next Thursday before heading to Portugal the following Tuesday.

Ex-Archbishop Holgate pupil Godfrey left the Minstermen for Norwich City in January 2016 and has established himself at centre-back in the Championship leaders’ first team this season, playing 27 games and scoring two goals to keep the likes of Grant Hanley and Timm Klosse – full internationals for Scotland and Switzerland respectively – on the bench.

Having made 15 appearances and netted once for his home-town club, the 21-year-old utility man spent last term on loan at Shrewsbury, where he twice played at Wembley, only to finish on the losing side against Lincoln and Rotherham in the respective Football League Trophy and League One play-off finals.

Godfrey previously captained York Schoolboys under-13s to English Schools FA Trophy final victory at Milton Keynes Dons as part of a team that also featured Ben Hirst, who would go on to make his City debut at the age of 16.

His dad is former York City Knights and Hull KR rugby league favourite Alex Godfrey.

England under-20s squad: Brandon Austin (Tottenham Hotspur), Ellery Balcombe (Boreham Wood, loan from Brentford), Ryan Schofield (Notts County, loan from Huddersfield Town), Reece James (Wigan Athletic, loan from Chelsea), Trevoh Chalobah (Ipswich Town, loan from Chelsea), Tom Edwards (Stoke City), Adam Lewis (Liverpool), Tom Pearce (Scunthorpe United, loan from Leeds United), Easah Suliman (Aston Villa), Ben Wilmot (Udinese, loan from Watford), Flynn Downes (Ipswich Town), Andre Dozzell (Ipswich Town), Elliott Embleton (Grimsby Town, loan from Sunderland), Sam Field (West Bromwich Albion), Ben Godfrey (Norwich City), Marcus Tavernier (Middlesbrough), Ronaldo Vieira (Sampdoria), Joe Willock (Arsenal), Eberechi Eze (Queens Park Rangers), Grady Diangana (West Ham United), George Hirst (OH Leuven), Dwight McNeil (Burnley), Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal).