By George Overhill

9th Apr, 2022 | 3:00pm

England under-21 keeper Etienne Green tipped for Premier League future

England under-21 goalkeeper Etienne Green is currently making a name for himself in France but is tipped for a future in the Premier League.

The 21-year-old suitably enough plays for Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1, who also play in green, is the first England member of BBC Sport’s Wunderkids XI, after switching allegiance from France this season and making his first appearances for the Three Lions age group side.

The Colchester-born stopper opened the season as the first-choice in goal for his side, having broken into the first team last season, but has lost his place currently after an injury.

He announced himself in some style in April last year, when he made his competitive debut against Nimes, and duly saved a penalty in a 2-0 win.

“We’d watched the video. I knew he would open his foot up. I decided to go left and saved it,” said the youngster at the time, via Ligue 1.

Having now made 23 first team appearances for Saint-Etienne, facing the likes of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe and keeping four clean sheets for a side struggling near the bottom of the French top flight, his future career path is being considered, and a return to England which he left at the age of 10 is thought to be on the cards.

French football expert Julien Laurens calls him “one of the best” keepers in the league, and explained to BBC Sport how it was luck that put him in the team last season with three others out injured or with Covid-19.

Laurens said: “He has all the attributes [for the Premier League], he is really tall. He is really strong on his line, he still needs to improve on some aspects of his game of course. He has had a bit of injury this season and has maybe not played as much as he and the club would have hoped, but there is no doubt one day he will go to England.

“He might be better to go to another French club first to keep learning in Ligue 1 and then make the move to the Premier League.”

There are openings in the near future at the likes of Tottenham and West Ham, where incumbent starters Hugo Lloris and Lukasz Fabianski are 35 and 36 respectively.

Similarly, if interest in Leeds United’s Illan Meslier turns into something concrete there could be a space there, while the likes of Southampton may look to upgrade before long.

Whether it is sooner or later, the longer Green turns out for his national team the more interest in him will grown in the country of his birth, so a return would be no surprise.