HAVING returned to action for Middlesbrough after recovering from a broken wrist, goalkeeper Jason Steele has now set his sights on a starting place in the England Under-21 side.

Steele spent four months on the sidelines after fracturing his wrist just three days into pre-season training in July.

The 21-year-old returned in last month's draw with Millwall and, having produced some impressive performances since, he was rewarded with a call-up to the Under-21 squad for their European Championship qualifiers with Iceland and Belgium.

Steele was part of the squad's disappointing campaign at last summer's European Championships in Denmark, which saw Stuart Pearce's Young Lions fail to make it past the group stages.

Now though, Pearce's new-look squad are looking towards next summer's tournament and, despite several changes to personnel and his serious injury, Steele has remained in the reckoning.

Birmingham City's Jack Butland was handed the No 1 jersey at Colchester on Thursday night with Manchester United's Ben Amos on the bench.

Although he wasn't involved, Steele is determined to work his way back into Pearce's starting XI.

He said: "I haven't been back from injury that long so hopefully if I keep doing well for Boro, I'll get my chance with England.

"I'll take every step as it comes, I just want to keep playing for Boro and challenge for promotion. I spoke to Stuart a few times when I was injured, he phoned me up to see how my recovery was going.

"It's great that I've gone straight back into the squad so soon after coming back and I'm sure I'll be knocking on his door asking for a starting place.

"But I have to earn that first and the way to do that is by playing well for Boro.

"We've started this campaign really well. It's important we put the disappointment of the summer behind us quickly but it's good to be back involved."

Meanwhile, Rhys Williams has revealed he is not ready to sign a new contract with the club at the moment.

The Australian international has been a key player for Boro this season, having helped Tony Mowbray's side to third in the Championship table.

The 23-year-old has already attracted interest from several Premier League clubs, including Bolton Wanderers, but with 18 months left to run on his current deal Mowbray is keen to offer the player an extension.

However, the versatile player admits he is not ready to sign a new deal yet but insists he is focused on helping lift the Teessiders back into the top flight.

"I've been at Middlesbrough a long time, they've stuck by me, they've given me contracts during injury and they've kept faith in me," he told Australian press.

"I've told the manager I'm happy to sign if the deal is right but right now it's not. Until the deal is right, I'll just sit on what I have now.

"My goal is to play in the Premiership and if I'm doing that week in, week out, maybe that could force the issue or show him that he can rely on me to do that centre back or centre-midfield job.

"I've tried hard for the last three years to help get Middlesbrough back in the Premier League and hopefully this season will be the one.

"If not, I have to seriously look around and I've spoken to the manager about that."

Meanwhile, Rhys Williams was taken off during Australia's 1-0 defeat to Oman with a suspected ankle injury yesterday.