Albion midfielder Jake Forster-Caskey has been backed to emerge a wiser player from his up and down season with club and country.

But he could end it at the European Championships after keeping his place in the England under-21 squad.

Forster-Caskey was named in the 27-man ‘longlist’ yesterday for the Euro finals in the Czech Republic.

The group will be cut to 23 names before departure next month but former Seagulls skipper Nicky Forster is confident his stepson will make it.

New call-up Ruben Loftus-Cheek of Chelsea was among the midfielders named by boss Gareth Southgate but more senior duo Jack Wilshere and Ross Barkley were left out.

Forster said: “Jake is confident he will make the final squad.

“He has been a central part in the last few games they have played so he has got as good a chance as any.

“They want to put faith in the players who have helped them qualify and had some results in friendlies.

“Jake has been looking forward to it through the season.

“Gareth Southgate has been really good with the players, ringing them up and keeping in touch.

“He recently had a 15-20 minute chat with Jake and that goes a long way to making a player feel wanted.”

Forster also hailed the man management skills of Albion boss Chris Hughton during a challenging second half of the campaign.

He added: “Jake loved the first half of the season. He was used in pretty much every game “He was used much less frequently in the second half and found that frustrating but the season as a whole was a good learning curve.

“From my professional experience and from the parental point of view, I was very pleased with the piece in the paper the manager did on how Jake had matured and coped well with not playing so many games.

“A lot of people can see he is a mature head on young shoulders.

“It is nice to see the manager appreciates that.”