IN ADAM Armstrong, Saints have signed themselves a FIFA World Cup winner. Yes, it was ‘only’ the Under-20 World Cup, but how many Englishmen can even lay claim to that?

The answer is very few. The Young Lions’ success in the 2017 tournament was the first global competition win by an English side since Bobby Moore lifted the Jules Rimet at Wembley in 1966.

Although, among the winning under-20 squad was also Armstrong’s new teammate and Saints right-back, Kyle Walker-Peters – who was at Tottenham Hotspur at the time.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the only goal of the final against Venezuela, in South Korea, while the likes of Dominic Solanke and goalkeeper Freddie Woodman claimed plaudits for performances throughout.

England's senior team travel to Warsaw to take on Poland in Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying tonight - their final game of this September international break.

Armstrong netted his only goal of the World Cup during a group stage victory over Argentina in England’s opening game and has fond memories of the whole occasion, telling the Daily Echo: “It was unbelievable.”

The 24-year-old added: “We went to South Korea for I think it was a month. Played the best teams in the world and to win that tournament was incredible.

“A lot of them lads are still playing now, a lot of them playing in the Premier League. It’s unbelievable to see the talent we had in that squad, it was incredible.”

Other familiar names in the squad include but are not limited to Dean Henderson (Man United), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan) Lewis Cook (Bournemouth), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal), Ademola Lookman (Leicester City) and Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa).

He continued: “It’s something I’ll look back on at the end of my career when I finish, something I’ll always look back on.”

For Saints’ new forward, it wasn’t even his first taste of international success after also winning the under-17 European Championships in 2014.

Armstrong was prolific at both levels, scoring a combined 17 goals in 25 appearances.

It was everybody’s first taste of something that has now become a staple of football, though, with the preliminary introductions of Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

FIFA used the tournament as one of the first ever trials of VAR and immediately Armstrong and England were beneficiaries in that aforementioned Argentina contest.

Now a hotly-rated Inter Milan starting striker, a young Lautaro Martinez was sent off after VAR spotted him elbowing ex-Chelsea Tomori – and England capitalised with an eventual 3-0 victory.

Armstrong recalled: “Yeah I think that was the first time, one of their lads got sent off because of an elbow, because of VAR.

“I think that was the first time we’d seen anything like that, it was obviously really good on our side they had 10 men and we went on to win the game.

“It’s something that’s obviously been put in the game now, I think it’s a good thing if they’re getting decisions right and something I’m looking forward to.”

He then joked: “Obviously I didn’t have it in the Championship, I’ll have to start timing my runs a bit better now!”