City boss Glenn Roeder hailed full-back Ryan Bertrand's first England Under-21 call-up as “fully deserved”. Bertrand, on loan from Chelsea, has been included in the squad for the first time for the European Championship qualifier against Portugal at Wembley on Friday, September 5.

City boss Glenn Roeder hailed full-back Ryan Bertrand's first England Under-21 call-up as “fully deserved”.

Bertrand, on loan from Chelsea, has been included in the squad for the first time for the European Championship qualifier against Portugal at Wembley on Friday, September 5.

“It's great for him and it's very good for us. I know he's a Chelsea player but he's our player for the season and he's such a fantastic lad to work with,” said Roeder, who had the pleasant job of giving the 19-year-old the news of his selection.

“It's fully deserved. As much as I don't think it's necessary to play so many international friendlies, for championship games I'm more than happy for our players to be selected and gain that honour - because it is an honour.

“I could tell how happy he was when he came into the office at being uplifted to the under-21s and a game at Wembley. Here's a young man at the start of his career, and he skipped out of the room with a lovely big smile on his face.”

Bertrand was in line for a call-up earlier but was sent home for breaking a curfew with the under-19s.

Regardless of the result against Portugal on September 5, Stuart Pearce's youngsters should be assured of a place in the play-offs to reach next year's tournament.

However, they still have the incentive of winning to give them a favourable draw for the two-legged tie in October that will decide if they feature in Sweden.