THE Young Lions return to Wanderers for the first time in more than two decades tomorrow night.

The last England Under-21 international to be played at the then-Reebok Stadium was against Yugoslavia in September 2002, a night on which four future Bolton players featured.

Jlloyd Samuel – who would go on to play senior football for Trinidad and Tobago – and Shola Ameobi earned caps in a 1-1 draw, with Matty Taylor and Gary O’Neil on the bench.

Wanderers have had five players earn England Under-21 whilst under contract at the club and another three – James Trafford, Jack Wilshere and Daniel Sturridge earn them whilst on loan from other clubs (Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea, respectively).

Whilst Trafford will not make his comeback to the Toughsheet Community Stadium after being drafted into the senior squad, there will be plenty of talent on show in Lee Carsley’s side, who won the Euros last summer.

But which Bolton players have earned caps for the Young Lions? We took a look into the history books.

FABRICE MUAMBA – Made an impressive 25 appearances for the Young Lions whilst wearing a Wanderers shirt, including an appearance in the 2009 European Championship final.

Muamba won 33 caps in total, tying him with Tom Huddlestone as the fourth most-capped player at that level, and had made his debut against Romania whilst playing for Birmingham City in 2007.

NICKY HUNT – Won all 10 of his England Under-21 caps whilst playing for Wanderers, the first of which came against Holland in Hull on February 17, 2004.

Full-back Hunt had already been around the Bolton first team for two-and-a-half years before that and by the time of his final cap – against Germany in Mainz in September 2005 – had already played 80 senior games and would nine days later turn out against Lokomotiv Plovdiv, a game made memorable by Jared Borgetti’s last-minute winner.

KEVIN NOLAN – Despite playing regularly for Bolton from the age of 17 and playing for England’s Under-19s, Nolan earned just one solitary Under-21 cap.

Nolan was forced to pull out of a squad to face Slovakia and Macedonia in October 2002 because of injury but came off the bench for Shaun Wright-Phillips in a friendly against Italy in Carrara in February the following year.

He made the squad to play against Portugal and Turkey in March and April 2003 but did not come on to the pitch to earn a cap.

Over the next few years Liverpudlian Nolan would become a key man for Wanderers and though his ancestry meant he could have played for either the Republic of Ireland or Holland, he held out for the chance to play for England.

‘Nobby’ played 401 Premier League games in his career – and only his ex-West Ham United team-mate Mark Noble has managed more without being capped by the Three Lions.

PETER REID – Capped six times by the Under-21s in a 12-month period between April 1977 and 1978, Reid was one of the country’s most sought after midfield talents of the day.

He had made his Wanderers debut in October 1974, coming on as a substitute in a 2-0 win against Leyton Orient at Burnden Park – which was also Ian Greaves’s first game in charge.

He quickly became a first team regular and was part of the side that twice went close to promotion to the top-flight in 1976 and 1977.

His England Under-21s debut came against Scotland at Bramall Lane, a game decided by a single goal by Laurie Cunningham.

Reid also missed out on the chance to play in the first-ever televised England Under-21s game against Italy at Maine Road in March 1978 to play for Bolton. He scored in a 1-1 home draw against Brighton, whilst the Young Lions won their game 2-1 with two goals from Tony Woodcock.

He would, of course, go on to win 13 senior caps and play at the 1986 World Cup finals.

ALAN THOMPSON – Both of Thompson’s Under-21 caps came in a Bolton shirt, having helped the club to promotion to the Premier League.

His debut came against Latvia at Burnley’s Turf Moor, a 4-0 win with goals from Chris Bart-Williams, Neil Shipperley, Steve Watson and Andy Booth.

His second and final cap arrived a few months later and ended in real disappointment. Two goals from Dani had put Portugal 2-0 up before Thompson was given a red card, ruling him out of the final qualifier against Norway. England duly drew that game 2-2 and failed to get to the Euro Championships.

Thompson did win one senior cap, picked by Sven-Goran Eriksson for a friendly against Sweden in 2004 whilst playing for Celtic.

MARK DAVIES – It cannot go without mention that the silky skills of one of Bolton’s most unfortunate players earned two international call-ups for England Under-21s.

Davies had been scheduled to play against Ecuador in February 2010 but had to pull out of the squad because of an ankle injury sustained against Arsenal – a reckless challenge by Williams Gallas described as “assault” by manager Owen Coyle at the time. Referee Alan Wiley did not even award a free kick.

Davies was then due to play for England’s Under-21s against Iceland in March 2011 but had to pull out of the squad because of a muscular injury.

ENGLAND UNDER-23S - Before the advent of Under-21s football in the mid-1970s, Wanderers had seen some distinguished players turn out for the England Under-23s team too, including Freddie Hill (10 caps), Eddie Hopkinson (six caps), Ray Parry (four caps) and Dennis Stevens (two caps).