England under-21 manager Lee Carsley has challenged Cole Palmer to play more for Manchester City if he wants to keep his place at international level.
Palmer, 19, has started the season well after signing a new long-term deal over the summer. He started the Community Shield defeat to Leicester and made his Premier League debut in the closing stages of City's win against Norwich.
He dropped down to the under-21s for the EFL Trophy win over Scunthorpe, producing a Man of the Match display with a ferocious goal and two fine assists in the 3-0 victory.
His reward was a first call-up to the England U21 squad, and he made his debut from the start in their win over Kosovo on Tuesday in Milton Keynes.
Palmer was at the heart of everything the Young Lions did, and he marked his arrival on the under-21 stage with a goal more suited for the senior squad.
Picking the ball up at the back-post after an overhit cross, Palmer stood up his marker, looked to find a teammate on the edge of the area, before producing a brilliant Cruyff turn to spin back towards goal. He took a touch, before curling a tight finish past the helpless Kosovan goalkeeper.
His all-round display impressed Carsley, who praised Palmer after the match. However, with plenty of competition for places, Carsley set Palmer the challenge of ensuring he gets as much game time as possible for City.
Carsley said: "It's a really tough team to get into and, like a lot of players who play for the top six clubs, it's very difficult to get game time on the level that they have to.
"The thing we can do with England is to support him as much as we can, we rate him highly, he more than deserved his place in the squad.
"The balance is making sure we try to get his minutes and keep supporting him because he's a real talent.
"I have been around international football a while now and nine times out of 10 you have players in the squad who, if someone drops out, are more than capable of starting. Cole took his chance."
Carsley added praise for the whole team, which included another City debutant in centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis. Tommy Doyle was on the bench.
"The effort, professionalism and the way they conducted themselves against a tricky opponent was excellent," Carsley added.
"We spoke about getting off to a good start, the new players coming into the team and the responsibility which comes with that. The professionalism the players have shown through the whole camp has been excellent.
"We've got Under-19s, 20s, and last campaign's 21s, putting three group of players together so to get a seven-out-of-10 performance is something they can be proud of."
