Capello wants to utilise Arsenal youngsters

Fabio Capello is ready to hand Arsenal duo Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs England call-ups if he remains as national team boss.

Capello will find out in a fortnight whether he will be allowed to continue in his £6million-a-year post.

But the Italian is already looking to the future, and that means trying to find some new blood to inject a bit of fire into a team that let their country down so badly in South Africa.

Although not all those identified will be called up for the friendly against Hungary at Wembley on August 11, they are the men Capello feels England should build their future on; with Wilshere and Gibbs top of the list.

"Jack Wilshere is an interesting player, who is very good," said Capello, who was due to arrive back at London's Heathrow airport with his players in the early hours of this morning.

"Kieran Gibbs is another. I hope some good young players will be okay in the next six months."

The chances are Gibbs would have been in South Africa had it not been for the broken metatarsal he suffered in November that ruled him out of the Arsenal first-team picture for the rest of the season.

Manchester City's Adam Johnson, plus the more experienced Gabriel Agbonlahor can expect to be involved against Hungary, as can another Arsenal man, Theo Walcott, surprisingly axed from Capello's 30-man provisional squad.

Michael Dawson, who went to South Africa but did not feature in a competitive game, also got a name check, while in addition, Capello mentioned two more players, one with no international experience, another with plenty.

"Bobby Zamora is not young and was injured this time but he is a player we have spoken about," said Capello.

"Another player we hope that will be fit is Owen Hargreaves. He did not play at all last season."

Yet unless Capello, or his successor, can find a solution to the age-old problem of getting England teams to peak at major tournaments, no amount of young players will improve their lot.

When he came into the job Capello admitted he could not understand how such a talented group of players should fail so consistently.

After seeing a side that won nine out of 10 qualifiers totally fail to perform in South Africa, now he knows.

"I understand something which is really important and why England did not win before," he said.

"When English players get to the end of the season they are really tired.

"In total, we played seven games in this period and I never saw the players that I saw in the Autumn before the heavy Christmas spell, or two months after Christmas.

"They trained well and were focused on everything but they are not the same fast players that I know."