JAMES MCATEE

James McAtee followed Cole Palmer by leaving Manchester City this summer, aiming to become a Premier League star, too. After his £30m move to Nottingham Forest, England's U21 Euros skipper tells us about Bratislava, backflips... and Bieber

- Chris Flanagan

"FOR TWO YEARS, IT'S YOURS."

With those words, UEFA chief Giorgio Marchetti handed over the European Under-21 Championship trophy to James McAtee in June. The triumphant captain had just become the second member of his family to win silverware with England, after Alan Ball in 1966.

“To be honest, I was quite nervous,” McAtee tells FourFourTwo now, recalling the moment he received the trophy. “I'd seen other captains do it, but I didn’t properly know what to do!”

A medal already round his neck and a smile on his face, England’s No.10 carried the trophy to his team-mates and raised it aloft. Doing so, he followed in the footsteps made by Javi Martinez, Thiago Alcantara and Sami Khedira, who had previously captained their teams to the very same trophy. “A great memory, and a great feeling,” McAtee says.

"RUGBY? NOT FOR ME"

Now 22, the midfielder was four years old when Ball passed away in 2007, but he has always been aware of his great uncle’s achievements. “I've been told that I met him once or twice,” McAtee says. “I don’t remember it, but he’s always been an inspiration - my mum would tell me about him when England played, so it was something I knew about from a very young age. Having a family member who won the World Cup has always been a great honour.”

The sporting heritage doesn’t end there - the other side of the family contains several former professional rugby league players. McAtee’s father played a few games at scrum-half for St Helens, while his grandfather turned out for Leigh. “When I was only seven or eight, my dad took me to a few training sessions, but it wasn’t for me,” he says. “I was no good, I’m too soft for rugby. I thought, 'I'll stick to football!”