on 31 august 2007, steve mcclaren called young up to the full england squad for the first time, to face russia and israel in the uefa euro 2008 qualifiers. he was again called up for the euro 2008 qualifiers to face estonia and russia. on 16 november 2007, young made his international debut, by coming on as a half-time substitute for england in a friendly against austria. he has since appeared in the england friendly against germany in november 2008, coming on as a second-half substitute. he was also part of the starting xi in fabio capello's england squad in the friendly against the netherlands at the amsterdam arena on 12 august 2009. young did not make the cut in capello's 30-man squad for the 2010 world cup in south africa.