Timing of midfielder’s inclusion in England camp is all that has surprised his clubmate Young

Ashley Young has backed new Manchester United team-mate Tom Cleverley to grasp his England opportunity with both hands.

Less than 24 hours after his outstanding second-half cameo in the Community Shield win over Manchester City at Wembley, Cleverley was drafted into Fabio Capello’s squad to face World Cup runners-up Holland at Wembley tomorrow.

The only surprise for Young is that Cleverley, who celebrates his 22nd birthday on Friday, had to wait for injuries to rule out Jack Wilshere and Michael Carrick before receiving the good news.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Tom is worthy of his place in the squad,” said Young. “I actually thought he might have been in it earlier. It is a massive achievement but I have worked with him for a few weeks now.

“He did really well on tour and his performance (on Sunday) for such a youngster was excellent. He is a confident person and controlled the game.”

The loss of both Wilshere and Carrick was not a surprise.

Although Carrick did feature in Sunday’s defeat of City, he had complained of a tight Achilles during the build-up and as United are due to begin their Barclays Premier League title defence at West Brom on Sunday, Sir Alex Ferguson will not want to take any unnecessary risks.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had already declared that Wilshere would not face the Dutch due to an ankle injury which prevented him from travelling to Lisbon for his side’s friendly defeat to Benfica on Saturday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

While Capello appeared set to pursue a club-versus-country row when he selected Wilshere in his 25-man squad on Saturday evening, the Italian has clearly decided that, on the evidence of medical tests, this is not the time to start a row with Wenger.

In general though, Capello must be relatively pleased with the number of players that remained at England’s Watford HQ yesterday.

Of the 11 who were involved at Wembley, to find 10 are available is a massive success given the scale of previous withdrawals, although he will be acutely aware of the need to take extra care with so little preparation time ahead of that crucial opening round of domestic fixtures.

For Young it promises to be a particularly significant week after collecting a first winners’ medal for his new club and bringing a smile to the face of manager Ferguson.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He does have a fear-factor – but he also has an aura,” said Young. “He instils it into you that the same mentality has to go onto the pitch with you. There is a real desire not to lose in training or in matches. All players think exactly the same way.”

Former Sheffield United defender Kyle Walker wants to be part of England’s Euro 2012 squad and become a Tottenham regular after being hailed as the ‘new Roberto Carlos.’

Walker was labelled with that tag by sections of the foreign media after a superb performance for England Under-21s against Spain during the summer European Championship finals.

He reaped the benefits of a season-long loan at Aston Villa, signed a new five-year contract at Spurs and is in England’s squad for tomorrow.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But Walker knows there is much work to do before he can realise his double objective for club and country.

He said: “It’s been a whirlwind two years. There have been a lot of big steps in my career.

“The summer has been all football but it’s all been good. The Tottenham contract, I’m happy for, and hopefully I can get into the team now and push forward there.

“There are a lot of quality players at Tottenham and it is going to be difficult. But it is massively important for me to be playing week-in and week-out.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I’d like to think I’ve proved I can play Premier League football and hopefully the gaffer (Harry Redknapp) puts some trust in me and plays me.

“I feel at Spurs I need to get a couple of games and show the gaffer what I can do and also the fans who have seen very little of me.”