England call up Barcelona wonderkid who left Real Madrid and was capped by World Cup rivals

England are going head-to-head with Croatia months before the World Cup by calling up 14-year-old Will Ferdinand Cvek.

The Three Lions, who battle Vatreni in their Group L opener in June, have landed the first blow by looking to poach the Barcelona starlet.

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Australian-born Ferdinand, who has already played for Croatia’s U14 youth side, is highly rated inside Barca’s famed La Masia academy.

He has now been named in the England U15 squad ahead of UEFA’s U15 Development Tournament starting this weekend.

England call-up Barcelona academy star

This has been the second opportunity for the Young Lions to integrate Ferdinand into the set-up at St George’s Park.

England had hoped to include the teenager in a round of U15 matches two months ago before injury made him unavailable.

Ferdinand was born in Melbourne and remains eligible to play for the Socceroos, Croatia, the Philippines and his current home, Spain.

The young midfielder has spent the last five years in Barcelona’s La Masia, having had stints at Real Madrid and PSV’s academies.

Ferdinand was born in 2011 – the same year both Danny Welbeck and Kyle Walker made their senior international debuts.

The former Aussie native, who can also play as a winger, is eligible to play for England through his family.

He first went viral during his time at Real Madrid when he was just seven years old in a video with Spanish social media star Delantero09.

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Who is Will Ferdinand Cvek?

In April 2024, the football prodigy was involved in the 20th Annual Memorial of the Vukovar Defenders U14 youth tournament.

The competition was co-organised by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), with Ferdinand one of the youngest players.

The tournament is traditionally used to showcase the country’s emerging starlets, but now England have agreed a U15 call-up.

Ferdinand is not the only talent in Barcelona’s academy eligible to play for the Young Lions, with defender Alex Walton another option.

The U19 left-back was born in Catalonia and signed for the La Liga leaders’ academy side in February 2024 amid interest from Real Betis.

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Increase in English talent

Walton was part of Barcelona’s U19 A team last season that won the League, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Youth League.

Barca only welcomed their first English player at La Masia as recently as 2019 in Sheffield United‘s Aston Villa loanee, Louie Barry.

This season, Marcus Rashford became the first Englishman in 40 years to play at the Nou Camp after joining from Manchester United.