It has been a while since some shock England call up really surprise everyone and that’s exactly what has happened with Fabio Capellos inclusion of Michael Mancienne.
He’s been on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers from Chelsea and although he is yet to play a single game in the premier league he will travel to Berlin with the England squad that is to face Germany this coming Wednesday.
In a brief interview Mancienne stated “It is the dream of every boy to play for their country and it is fantastic to be in the squad. I was focused on being in the Under-21 squad so this was great news. It will be a fantastic game to be involved in and just being around the squad will be superb.”
The centre back is twenty and is also more than capable of playing at right back. He has an elagance that is not always seen in defensive players and a contolled comfort while on the ball. He has always been promising but there is still an element of surprise in relation to him being selected for the senior side.
It has been stated that his call up is in spite of Rio Ferdinand having to pull out with Capello insisting that Mancienne was going to be in the squad regardless. It is all part of a plan that Capello is implementing which involves getting the under 21 players experienced at senior level.
Capello said “I want to know them better,” and “It is possible that one of them can play. But I want to get to know the players, during the camp over two days.”
Mancienne is happy about the fact that there will be other Chelsea faces in the squad that he is used to, and admits that he regards John Terry as somewhat of a role model. He is not reliant upon this but feels that it will allow him to settle into the squad slightly better.
It was as a child growing up in Isleworth that a pre double figures Mancienne was spotted by now premiership giants Chelsea. He was playing for his local side Kingstonian and showed an irrepressible talent even at the age of 9. subsequently his progress was punctuated by a greater rapidity than the others and her soon staked his claims to places in all England youth levels and for the Chelsea reserves. In the two seasons that he was loaned to QPR he made 58 appearences and had a profound impact. He has been compared to Franz Beckenbauer which really is a plaudit.