The scepticism of outsiders may surround the England camp on the eve of the Euro 2008 qualifiers, but that will not faze Ashley Young, even though he has been called into the senior squad for the first time. After proving Watford wrong, he is confident that he can prove Steve McClaren right.

The forward was 16 when his club told him that they did not think that he would make it. He had been with Watford as a child, they appreciated his skill, but they felt that he would not meet the professional game’s physical demands. Too slight, too frail. So they told him that he was not going to get a scholarship. And he told them that they were wrong.

“I had the chance to go elsewhere, but I wanted to stay at Watford and prove that they’d made a mistake,” Young said. So Watford took him on part-time and he commuted from his home in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and trained three times a week. Before long, the club agreed with him.

Even though Young’s progression has been steady - into the top flight with Watford, then a big-money move to Aston Villa in January last season and eye-catching performances with the England Under-21s - McClaren’s call on Friday came as a surprise.

“I thought it was someone winding me up when I got the call, but as he carried on talking I knew it was real,” the 22-year-old said. “To get the call when the season’s just kicked off is an amazing feeling and it’s not like it’s just a friendly game; it’s two massive qualifiers that are must-wins. He said I’d done really well in the summer and had started well this season, so I deserved a call-up.”

Young may be quiet and inexperienced, but he exudes the same self-assured sense of belonging among the elite as Lewis Hamilton, the 22-year-old Formula One racing driver who has become the best rookie of all time this season. Coincidentally, they played in the same school football team. “I’m full of confidence. I’ve been on cloud nine as soon as the call came through,” Young said.

He met up with the squad last night and training starts today. Is he anxious? “Not particularly,” Young said at the launch of the FootballCV Academy, a private, residential training scheme that aims to develop youngsters into players who will latch on with professional clubs, at Nene Park, home of Rushden & Diamonds. “I thought I would be [nervous] after I got the call on Friday. But no, I’m buzzing, I just want to get down there and meet up.”

Young’s weekend grew more memorable when Aston Villa beat Chelsea 2-0 on Sunday. “If you’d been in the changing-rooms after the game, everyone was flat out on their feet - how hard Chelsea had made us work - but the way we ground out the result was great for everybody at the club,” he said. “We believe we can beat anybody on our day. Hopefully, we’ll carry that on and be up there.”

No wonder he seems motivated, when you consider his club managers: he swapped the mantra-heavy enthusiasm of Adrian Boothroyd for the tub-thumping passion of Martin O’Neill when he moved to Villa Park for a fee that could rise to £9.75 million.

“They’re different in their ways,” Young said. “They both motivate you in different ways, but Aidy Boothroyd has done well in the short space of time he’s been a manager and Martin O’Neill’s a man everyone talks highly of. No one’s got a bad word to say about him and if you look at his career, he’s been there and done it, so it’s good to go into training every day and work with a man like that.”