England U17 World Cup winner praised as "outstanding" after Neymar lessons

While some of his England Under-17 World Cup winning team-mates have starred in the Premier League or won senior international caps, Jonathan Panzo's career path has been a little different.

The defender, then at Chelsea, was the second-youngest member of Steve Cooper's squad and started in the final as the Young Lions beat Spain 5-2. A number of members of that squad have gone onto win senior caps, and goalscorers Phil Foden and Marc Guehi could both find themselves in Gareth Southgate's senior squad in Qatar.

Panzo has worked his way through the age group ranks for England, playing at every level up to under-21. And, after a career which has taken him to Ligue 1 and the Belgian top flight, he has been making strides back in his home country.

Now 22 years old, Panzo was reunited with Cooper at Nottingham Forest in January after stints in Ligue 1 with Monaco and Dijon. He also had a spell on loan at Cercle Brugge, who are owned by Monaco, during the 2019-20 season.

The youngster made his Forest debut on the final day of their Championship campaign, but was loaned out to Coventry City during a summer in which Cooper's side added plenty of defensive reinforcements. He has finally had a chance to play regular Championship football with the Sky Blues, and is impressing manager Mark Robins.

"I enjoyed watching that game more than any other so far this season," Robins said after a 1-0 victory over high-flying Blackburn Rovers. "I thought Panzo was outstanding, I thought certainly that Callum Doyle was very, very good in the middle - it was good."

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During Panzo's spell in France, he came up against the likes of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe as Dijon took on Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes. The game ended in a humbling 4-0 defeat, but the defender told Mirror Football he learned a lot from the October 2020 clash.

"It was a great challenge. It sets the level," he said. "That's the kind of level I want to be playing at, but from my level to that level, there's a big difference at the moment.

"It always make me want to work hard so I can look at those players and say, 'that's where I want to be'. It was great to experience playing against those kind of top players."

He also revealed how much he learned from team-mates Cesc Fabregas and Radamel Falcao while at Monaco. "Both Fabregas and Falcao, with everything they've achieved in football, they're still out there doing extra work on the pitch and in the gym," he said. "For a youngster, it just makes you more motivated and want to do more for yourself as well, seeing what they do which has set them apart.

"No time for talking. Let's go," Panzo tweeted upon joining Coventry on loan in July.

He went straight into the starting line-up for the opening day of the season as Robins' side drew 1-1 at Sunderland, playing in a back four also containing his former Chelsea team-mate Fankaty Dabo. Coventry sat bottom of the table after winning none of their first seven games, but have since climbed out of the bottom three.

"Tonight there was some really good play, really good football," Robins said after Jamie Allen's goal sealed victory against Blackburn. "Some of it was a little bit edge of your seat, but really brave."

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