Anthony Patterson has a 'big future' and 'richly deserves' his maiden England U21 call-up, according to delighted Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray. Sunderland's homegrown stopper was included in the 26-man squad announced today by Young Lions boss Lee Carsley, which will play friendlies against France U21 at Leicester City's King Power Stadium on Saturday, March 25, and then Croatia U21 at Fulham's Craven Cottage home on Tuesday, March 28.
"It's richly deserved, I think," said Mowbray of Patterson's call-up. "As I've said week-in, week-out, the steadiness and composure he brings, the fact he makes big saves that help you win football matches.
"I'm delighted for him. It will be great for him to go into a different working environment with three other goalkeepers and different coaches for England and do the work and see what it's like in that environment.
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"Hopefully he gets some game time. I'm not sure if he's going to play or going for the experience but it's great that he's been called up. It's great for the club and obviously great for him.
"Hopefully he enjoys it. A chance to go and play in some Premier League experiences, it will be a great experience for him."
Patterson came through Sunderland's academy system and worked under academy goalkeeping coach Mark Prudhoe, who was also influential in guiding another homegrown keeper in Jordan Pickford through the ranks and he went on to earn a £30m move to Everton and establish himself as England's number one. To see Patterson also brought into the England fold is a feather in the cap of Sunderland's goalkeeping coaches, and Mowbray added: "I wasn't here at the start of his journey, how he broke into the team, who he replaced, how that happened - and yet he's obviously played in some pretty big football matches for the club and has done exceptionally well and continues to do exceptionally well.
"That's down to the personality really, the traits he brings, the calmness. Some goalies are a box of frogs always shouting about, jumping, screaming at everyone and then you have a band of goalies who are super calm and cool and know how to do their job.
"Then you get brilliant goalies who are both. Anthony is just a big steady guy who is really good at keeping the ball out of his net and dealing with crosses.
"He has growth areas as you'd expect of a young goalkeeper, his distribution at times needs to be worked on and is getting worked on. But he doesn't have many faults or what I would call faults.
"It's amazing to think of what he will be like when he's 30 and he's still got six to eight years still to play, when he's so young now and so good at what he does. He obviously has a big future."
Pattersonn is one of four goalkeepers in the England U21 squad, along with West Bromwich Albion's Josh Griffiths, Brighton's Carl Rushworth who is currently on loan at Lincoln City, and Manchester City's James Trafford, who is currently on loan at Bolton. Patterson has been in excellent form since being recalled from a loan spell at Notts County in January 2022 as the club battled a Covid outbreak which affected Sunderland's two senior goalkeepers, on-loan Bayern Munich man Thorben Hoffman and Lee Burge.
He held onto the number one shirt for the remainder of the season, helping Sunderland win promotion from League One via the play-offs. And he has been the undisputed number one this term, playing every one of the club's 37 Championship games so far.
England U21 are building towards this this summer's Euro U21 Championships in Romania and Georgia. Patterson will turn 23 in May but is still able to play for the U21s in the tournament because the rules state that players who were 21 or under when the qualification process began in 2021 are eligible.
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