Rams midfielder Hughes feels at home on international scene

The highly-rated 18-year-old, who in the last couple of seasons has emerged from the Rams’ youth ranks to become a first-team regular, is set to be the centre of attention tonight when the Young Lions face Wales Under-21s in a 2015 European Championship qualifier at the iPro Stadium.

He said: “It will be fairly strange in a way, with it being my home ground.

“But it means I will be used to it, and hopefully I will get a good reception. I think I’m more looking forward to it than feeling nervous.

“You have to expect attention when you are playing at your home ground in front of the crowd. But I don’t think there’s too much pressure really.”

While the familiar surroundings may well help Hughes in terms of his performance, he is already feeling very much settled at international Under-21 level.

He has six caps to his name to date and netted his first goal for the Young Lions in their last match, a 9-0 win over San Marino in a qualifier in November.

“It is still a bit surreal that I’m involved in the set-up at such an early age,” Hughes said.

“But the more I play for them, the more I get used to it. It was nice to get a first competitive start last time, and to grab a goal was a good achievement.

“I think everything is settling down a bit – things are becoming a bit more organised with what I’m doing now, in that I am playing regularly for Derby and getting picked regularly for the Under-21s. I’m getting used to it all.

“You look at the sort of players I am training with and playing with and it is only going to benefit me in terms of trying to learn from them.

“Some of them have been playing week-in, week-out in the Premier League, so that is only going to help me.”

England Under-21s’ manager Gareth Southgate has little doubt Hughes will shine under the spotlight. He said: “He has a smile on his face during games, which is something I couldn’t do at that age, and he is very mature.

“Really, I think the only concern with Will is that we feel we need to protect him a bit.”