Richards and Hart in U21 squad

Wheater tipped for senior England call

Last updated: 27th August 2008

joe hart

Hart: Named in U21 squad

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Manchester City duo Joe Hart and Micah Richards both find themselves in the England Under-21 squad for their crucial European qualifier with Portugal, but there is no David Wheater.

Hart, Richards, Wheater, Theo Walcott, Tom Huddlestone and Gabriel Agonlahor have all been included in recent squads named by England boss Fabio Capello.

But ahead of England's opening World Cup qualifiers with Andorra and Croatia, only Wheater has not been called up by U21 coach Stuart Pearce, which seems to suggest that the uncapped Boro centre-back will be involved with the senior set-up.

Pearce's men currently top their qualifying group and are well on course for the Euro play-offs in October.

The youngsters finish their campaign with a rare appearance at Wembley, something which Pearce feels is important.

"We want the transition to the seniors to be as smooth as possible," he said.

"Taking this game to Wembley is part of that. A lot of the Under-21 players will never have played there before and the experience of playing this game there will help them as and when they step up to the seniors."

There are two uncapped players in Pearce's 25-man party with Wolves striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Chelsea full-back Ryan Bertrand, on loan at Norwich, called up.

England U21 squad:

Joe Hart, Tom Heaton, Joe Lewis, Ryan Bertrand, Martin Cranie, Craig Gardner, Michael Mancienne, Micah Richards, Andrew Taylor, Steven Taylor, Lee Cattermole, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Michael Johnson, Michael Kightly, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Fabrice Muamba, Mark Noble, Jamie O'Hara, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Fraizer Campbell, Matt Derbyshire, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Theo Walcott.