Championship football is making England players out of our Hammers

Two West Ham players started for England's Under-20s on Friday. Not as a reward for being promising.

Due to opportunities in a team that is fighting for promotion. Airidas Golambeckis and Divine Mukasa both started as the Young Lions beat Italy 3-1 in Spain to open their U20 Euro Elite League campaign.

Ezra Mayers was on the bench. Fin Herrick would have been in the squad too, if injury hadn't forced him out.

That's four of our lot picked for one England age-group squad. Golambeckis will want to forget the hour mark.

He put through his own net to give Italy their only goal. Darren Moore's side cruised through anyway, with Jesse Derry, Mikey Moore and Shea Lacey scoring.

What matters more is that he was out there at all. A year ago, lads like Golambeckis would've been waiting in the U21s, hoping for a cup run and a late cameo.

Now they're getting proper minutes in a tough league, and it shows. The Championship is making Nuno pick young players, and those young players are growing up fast in front of our eyes.

Mukasa's case is a little different. He's on loan from Manchester City, and the England team sheet says so.

England play France on Tuesday and Germany after that, with the window closing on 3 October. That leaves Nuno less than a week with his youngsters before QPR on Friday 9 October.