Arsenal midfielder Jack WiIshere feels fit enough to play for England Under-21 side in this summer’s European Championship

Jack Wilshere and Anthony Annan

Related Links

Teams

Players

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has declared that he intends to represent the England Under-21 side in the European Championship this summer.

The competition takes place in Denmark after the season draws to a close, but it is thought that Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is not in favour of the 19-year-old playing for the youth national team.

However, Three Lions boss Fabio Capello and U-21 manager Stuart Pearce have in the past expressed hope of being able to call upon the midfielder for the tournament.

And this could see the youngster having to play on June 4 in a Euro 2012 qualifier for the senior side, before joining the youth team for the tournament in Denmark – which could prolong his season by another three weeks.

The player himself has rejected the notion that he will be burnt out and maintained that he is at his physical peak.

“At the moment I feel I can keep going,” he said, according to The Mirror. “I’ve played 43 games so I feel fitter and better than ever.

“It will only be good for my career. If you look at the Germans, they won the Under-21 tournament and the following year they went to the World Cup and did well.

“It is important to start winning international tournaments early and get it into you and hopefully you can take it onto the world stage.

“It is up to the manager, but I want to play. Stuart Pearce, Fabio Capello and Arsene Wenger will talk about it and see what is best for me.

“I’m always in contact with Arsene Wenger, who has been a big part of my career, and I’ll always talk to him. I’ll be talking to him over the next few weeks.”

Wilshere also believes that the there are not many changes necessary to the squad that had a miserable showing in the World Cup last year, and insists that there are several great players already.

“There doesn’t have to be so many changes after the World Cup,” he continued. “There are great players in there still.

“We were missing a lot of players against Ghana, big players, and we still got a good result. There are players to come in and there are younger players as well and it’s only good for English football.

“There is more competition now. Players like Stewart Downing and Ashley Young are really coming on now, me and James Milner as well.”