ARGYLE Centre of Excellence schoolboy midfielder Jordan Copp has received an England call-up.

Jordan, 14, from Saltash, has been invited to attend an England Under-16 training camp at the FA's new national football centre at Burton-upon-Trent in early August.

Striker Aaron Spear, whose transfer from Argyle to Newcastle United is now close to being finalised, is also named in the squad for the preliminary get-together for the junior international team.

The two Argyle products are two of only three players in the 38-strong development group to come from Centre of Excellence clubs. All the others come from Academy clubs.

Manchester United and Chelsea both provide five players, Middlesbrough four, Arsenal three; Leeds, Liverpool and West Brom each provide two; and Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Charlton, Coventry, Crystal Palace, Everton, Manchester City, Sunderland, Watford, West Ham and Wolves each supply one player.

Copp's immediate focus is on the Northern Ireland Milk Cup - he is in the Argyle Under-16 squad that next week takes part in the highly-rated international tournament that is celebrating its 26th anniversary this year.

During this period, it has attracted entries from 56 different countries, with David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney amongst the galaxy of stars to have participated during the formative years of their careers.

Altogether 54 teams are taking part in this year's competition, which is divided into three sections: Junior (Under-16); Senior (Under-18) and Elite (an Under-21 competition for national teams only).

Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, now reserve-team manager at Old Trafford, will perform the official opening ceremony in front of a capacity 10,000 crowd at the Coleraine Showgrounds on Sunday evening, after all the teams have paraded through the town centre.

The games are played at various venues in and around Coleraine, and Argyle are competing in the Junior section, against Premier League giants Chelsea and fourteen other formidable opponents from near and far.

The foreign teams in this section are: Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Maccabi Haifa. (both Israel), Brondby (Denmark), Rosenborg and AIK (both Sweden), Aspire (Qatar national team), plus defending Cup holders Guadalajara and Necaxa (both Mexico).

The line-up is completed by Everton, Wolves, Watford, Swindon Town, and Scottish club Queen of the South, alongside the six Northern Ireland County teams, plus three teams from the Irish Republic, Crumlin United, Donegal Schools and the Dundalk Schoolboys League.

The Young Pilgrims face Queen of the South at Ballymoney on Monday (noon) and the highly-rated County Down representative team at Portrush on Tuesday (1.30pm). Their schedule over the remaining three days of the tournament will be determined by their results in these first two matches.

Argyle's squad is a very young one, with nine of the 18 players young enough to also compete next year, and one, 12-year-old striker Sam Gallagher, young enough to take part again the year after.

It comprises: goalkeepers Connor-Sidley Adams and Sam Trudgian; defenders James Richards, Jamie Richards, Jordan Pearce, Dan Bennett, Jack Stephens, James Bradley; midfielders Jed Harper-Penman, Luke Young, Daniel Hart, Tom Fowler, Jordan Copp and Jake Gosling; and strikers Jared Sims, Isaac Vassall, Matt Lecointe and Sam Gallagher.

"We shall obviously miss Aaron Spear," said head of youth development Gordon Bennett. "With such a young squad, it's unlikely that we will win the tournament but it will certainly be a very beneficial experience for all the lads to play in an international tournament of this calibre."