Christian Walton does not have to look very far for inspiration about the bright future within his grasp as one of England’s finest young goalkeepers.

Albion’s young Cornishman is being groomed in similar fashion to Bristolian Jack Butland.

Walton is currently with the England under-20s squad in southern France for the Toulon tournament.

The annual festival, now in its 43rd year, has routinely been a breeding ground for future full international stars.

Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry and Javier Mascherano were all winners of the player of the tournament award.

More pertinent to Walton was the appearance at last year’s tournament of Butland, together with the manner in which he has been handled first by Birmingham, where he played under Albion boss Chris Hughton, and now Stoke City.

Butland, soon after making his England under-21s debut, was loaned out to Cheltenham in League Two by Hughton during his season in charge of Birmingham.

Hughton has loan plans for Walton as well at Albion next season to broaden his education and further hasten his development.

In August 2012, with Joe Hart sidelined by injury, Butland became England’s youngest ever senior No.1 for a friendly against Italy, aged 19 and 158 days.

Since buying him in January 2013, Stoke have loaned Butland back to Birmingham and also to Barnsley, Leeds and Derby County.

The 22-year-old has established himself in Roy Hodgson’s England squad and as the natural successor to Asmir Begovic in the Potteries.

Butland was captain at last year’s Toulon tournament of a group containing Harry Kane, Saido Berahino and Albion pair Jake Forster-Caskey and Solly March.

England finished fourth, a result which Walton hopes Aidy Boothroyd’s class of 2015 can improve upon.

Walton, 19, said: “It is a pretty prestigious tournament at this age group so I am really excited to be involved.

“You want to test yourself against the best young players in the world and prove your own quality, but you also want to be able to say you have won something for your country, so we are looking to win it.

“Not many players can say they have played at an international tournament so I know what a huge opportunity this is.

“Jake played in last year’s tournament and he said it was an amazing experience and that he learnt a lot from it.

“He didn’t quite make the final last year as Brazil were very strong but they are not here this year and we go in confident of winning our group and putting ourselves into the final.”

For that to happen Boothroyd’s prospects will need to improve on the unconvincing 3-3 draw in their opening group game against underdogs Morocco on Thursday evening.

Walton, playing alongside highly regarded Premier League youngsters like Lewis Baker (Chelsea), James Wilson (Manchester United) and Chuba Akpom (Arsenal) redeemed himself with a point-saving late stop after contributing to the North Africans’ early equaliser.

Boothroyd is expected to rotate his keepers so Sunderland’s Jordan Pickford is poised to take over in this afternoon’s second group fixture against Ivory Coast. Walton and company also face Mexico and China next week.

The other group comprises France, Holland, the US, Costa Rica and Qatar.

The group winners meet in the final, the runners-up in a third place play-off. England are aiming to win the tournament for the first time since their fourth triumph in five years back in 1994.