Interim England Under 21 manager Aidy Boothroyd insists he and senior boss Gareth Southgate have nothing more to prove.

The 45-year-old former Huddersfield Town player is relaxed over his future, with the Football Association due to start the hunt for a permanent England manager this month.

Boothroyd takes charge of tonight’s friendly against Italy in Southampton after helping the Young Lions qualify for Euro 2017 last month, having replaced Southgate after he stepped up to the seniors following Sam Allardyce’s September exit.

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Southgate completes his initial four-game spell following tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier at home to Scotland and Tuesday’s game at Wembley against Spain.

And Boothroyd feels they can do no more if they are to continue in their roles.

“To be perfectly honest I don’t think Gareth needs to audition and I don’t think I do,” said the ex-Watford manager, who has moved from the Under 20s.

“We are what we are, people know us and know our character and know that we work together well as a team – and work with the other development teams and the staff and everybody that works at the FA.

“We have a really good relationship with everybody so we’ve both had the experience of management and we’ve both worked with a lot of players so you just carry on and do what you have to do and what will be will be, I’m sure.”

Aidy Boothroyd on the training ground at St George's Park

Boothroyd believes the search to find a senior manager will be a relaxed one and expects informal talks with the FA hierarchy.

He said: “Whether I go back to the Under 20s, stay with the Under 21s or go and work on the ground staff I will have to just wait and see.

“Dan (Ashworth, technical director) is very hands-on, I see him every day just about or I speak to him every day and the same with Gareth.

“We work very closely because the 21s and the 20s are close age groups so I am sure it will be very informal and we will all know.”

Boothroyd has a fully fit squad for tonight’s game at St Mary’s with Ruben Loftus-Cheek expected to recover from a toe injury, with the squad then travelling to Paris to face France on Monday.

The Under 21s are unbeaten in their last 14 games since Italy beat them 3-1 to knock them out of Euro 2015.

Boothroyd added: “As a coach it’s important to prepare against two very different major footballing countries.

“The Italians will provide us with a different tactical problem – several different tactical problems – to solve because they are very flexible in how they play the game.”