It represents a quite startling elevation for a player who had only seven minutes of international experience behind him when England last played a Euro 2012 qualifier.

Wilshere did not get on the field that night against Montenegro and was injured when England lost to France the following month at Wembley.

And while he did start the February victory in Denmark, the 19-year-old was among those replaced at half-time.

Since then, Arsenal have bowed out of the Champions League to Barcelona in a crushing blow to the Gunners and manager Arsene Wenger.

But as a detached observer Capello only saw the positives, which in Wilshere's case represented a potential England skipper of the future.

"Jack Wilshere will start tomorrow," Capello said. "He is one of the young players who has improved a lot.

"He has got a lot better since he played the first game with us at Wembley.

"He plays like someone who has played a lot of games. Like someone who is 28 or 29.

"He was fantastic against Barcelona. He was a leader on the pitch. It is not easy to find players like him, who play without fear in a stadium like the Nou Camp.

"I spoke with Arsene Wenger and he told me the same thing. He said he had been surprised about how Jack Wilshere was doing in such a short space of time."

Capello would presumably have been expressing similar sentiments about Andy Carroll had the new Liverpool striker not have arrived on Merseyside carrying an injury.

And while Carroll has made his comeback, he is clearly not fit enough for England to consider him as a potential partner for Wayne Rooney at the Millennium Stadium.

"I monitored Andy Carroll in the games that he played for Liverpool and went to see him personally," Capello added. "He needs more games to play at the level he was at before he was injured.

"He is a good player, a dangerous player, but he is not fit to play 90 minutes."

Instead, Darren Bent or, less likely, Jermain Defoe will get the job of bringing the best out of Rooney.

In defence, the choice of John Terry's central defensive partner is between Michael Dawson and Phil Jagielka, while even Capello admits the midfield conundrum is causing him the most problems.

Having admitted privately Wilshere is not an English equivalent of Claude Makelele, as he had previously suggested, Capello must decide whether he needs greater defensive cover with Gareth Barry or the in-form Scott Parker, which could involve ignoring Frank Lampard's vast experience.

It is opposite number Gary Speed who has the major problems though, now Gareth Bale has been ruled out by a hamstring complaint.

In theory it should make England's task far easier, but Capello is not so sure.

"I have played in derby games in two different countries and I coached in them in four countries," he said. "The best team does not always win.

"It is a really dangerous game that we will play tomorrow. The value of the players is good but the spirit of these players is fantastic."

England's position is not made any easier by the fact they cannot afford to drop any more points if they are not to concede the initiative to Montenegro, who have 10 points from their opening four games, with Wales among their victims.

England laboured to a 0-0 draw with Montenegro at Wembley last October and Capello said: "We created four chances to score that day and their keeper was good. Yesterday, the Under-21s played very well in Denmark but scored four times with four shots.

"We need to play a really good game tomorrow, to be focused and put more pressure on to win the ball back."