The 20-year-old has had rave reviews during his current loan spell at Wolves, and has impressed England boss Fabio Capello.

Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba, who has played with Mancienne at several England levels, said: "The guy is a very good player, and I'm very happy for him to be there.

"He plays like Rio; he's very chilled, very relaxed - but he's a very good player as well, with good pace, and a great reader of the game.

"I've no worries about him being able to handle it."

Mancienne's absence leaves a gap in central defence for the under-21s when they take on the Czech Republic at Bramall Lane tonight.

Muamba believes, though, that Stuart Pearce's side have identified some key weaknesses in the visitors' line-up.

He added: "They are a good team who play on the counter-attack. But they are not the best at set pieces or defending one-on-one, so we are confident we can exploit that."

Pearce, meanwhile, has stated his determination to take the likes of Theo Walcott and Gabriel Agbonlahor to the European Under-21s championships next summer - even if it stokes up further club-versus-country conflict.

Walcott and Agbonlahor could be involved with the senior England side's World Cup qualifiers at the start of June, but Pearce will have no hesitation calling them into under-21s action for the tournament in Sweden as well.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has already expressed his concern about the prospect of Walcott being involved, but Pearce is not planning to call him or any other club boss for talks.

Pearce said: "The most important thing for me is for England to win a trophy. It would be folly for me to go there with a lesser squad.

"England have not won a great deal at any level for many, many years - and if we leave our best players at home we are not going to.

"The players have been happy to step up and step down, and I think the players themselves will vote with their feet.

"It might suit club managers [for players not to go]; they know the player will be rested and not get injured. My job is to make sure the country that I love is successful with this age group.

"My support would be unwavering even if I walked out and worked for a club. So don't ask me to have sympathy with somebody else who has the impression we should not back the national side. I can't understand the mentality.

"I don't really see the need to ring certain club managers here and there; I don't really see the relevance. The most important thing is the players will want to be there."