England under-21 manager Stuart Pearce says he could take Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere to Israel for Euro 2013.
The 20-year-old was withdrawn from Pearce s squad for the last European Championship 18 months ago, when it was agreed that he deserved a break after a long season.
Injury has haunted the youngster ever since, but Pearce believes it could be a vital experience for Wilshere in preparation for tournaments with the senior team.
Look at Tom Cleverley for example, who s had an Olympic experience and international tournament experience, Pearce told The Daily Mail.
It s the same with Steven Caulker and one or two others – going to the major tournaments will stand them in great stead because as we stand at the moment we ve still got a scenario with the likes of Wilshere, because of his injury, he s not been to a major tournament with England yet.
All of a sudden he s approaching his 20th birthday and I don t know when the next opportunity of a major tournament will be for him – next summer, the summer after?
The more tournament football these boys can get, the more it prepares them for the senior team, and it also gives us the opportunity to vie for a major trophy at under-21 level because if you don t get to these tournaments you can t win them.
The under-21s qualified for the competition on Tuesday with a highly controversial second-leg win over Serbia, and will not discover their next opponents until November.
England manager Roy Hodgson has calmed the pressure put on Wilshere amid his return to first-team action and is willing to be patient with the midfielder.
Jack did very well, didn t he, when he broke into the team, he told The Daily Mirror.
He was a revelation, however long ago it was – a year or a year-and-a-half ago – but he s been injured since then.
The thing we ve got to realise about him, as Arsene (Wenger) mentioned, is that he s been out of football for a long, long time.
He s a wonderful talent and of course it would be terrific if he could reproduce that form when he becomes involved again.
But I m also keen, like Arsene, to play down the expectations. When you ve been out for well over a year, like he has, to come back and play like he was before might take a little bit of time.
He s certainly one we re going to be watching very carefully, but first we have to wait and see how long it is before Arsene puts him back in the Arsenal squad.
