JAMES Ward-Prowse has described it as a great privilege to be named the new England Under-21 captain.

The Saints midfielder has been chosen by manager Gareth Southgate to wear the armband from now on, replacing Jack Butland, who has graduated to the senior squad.

“It’s a great honour, everybody’s dream is to play for England and represent their country at the highest level and to get the honour of the armband is a great privilege for me and something that I’m going to cherish," said Ward-Prowse, who has previously captained the under-19 and under-20 sides, in an interview with the FA.

"Being a captain is something that has always been a big driving force of mine and something I’ve always wanted to do.

"So I’m lucky that I’ve been given the privilege of doing it and I can’t wait to take the armband."

Ward-Prowse, who has 13 caps for the under-21s, added: "I think with or without the armband, I’m always trying to lead the team and be a good communicator to try and lead by example.

"We had a good meeting when we arrived and there’s a real leadership group now, five or six of us to come together and make sure things in the team are running smoothly.

"With a number of players in the team who can contribute to that, it will stand the team in good stead."

The Young Lions play USA Under-23s tomorrow in a friendly match, at Preston, before their first qualifier for the 2017 Euros, which takes place on Monday, away to Norway.

Ward-Prowse is hoping it will provide a platform from which to erase the disappointment of this summer’s Euros, when England went out at the group stage.

"We didn’t perform when it mattered, but from these tournament experiences we can all take a good learning curve from it," he said.

"But I’m looking forward to the next two years. We’ve got a new squad together and having seen the first few days of training, there’s a lot of quality coming through.

"It’s a really good mix, we’ve got a lot of different qualities all over the pitch and I’m ready to be a part of this team and it’s going be an exciting journey over the next two years to get to Poland."