Fabio Capello has named Phil Jones, Tom Cleverley, Chris Smalling and Danny Welbeck in his provisional England squad for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Wales next month, which he will whittle down to 23 names on Sunday.
It raises the prospect that the England manager may be about to reshape his team around another generation of young Manchester United players, in this case a quartet who were so impressive in Monday's win over Tottenham. Jones and Welbeck were named in the Under-21s squad for games against Azerbaijan on Thursday and Israel four days later but Capello has told the U21 manager, Stuart Pearce, that he may need the players to step up.
Jack Wilshere and Glen Johnson are out of the senior games, the first of which is against Bulgaria a week today, and Rio Ferdinand is a doubt. The decision over who to play at right-back is a difficult one. Kyle Walker, nominally Johnson's understudy, was ill during the Spurs game.
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