England play Hungary at Wembley next Wednesday, 24 hours after the Under-21s tackle Uzbekistan in a friendly at Bristol City's Ashton Gate.

Fabio Capello vowed to make changes to his squad after England's World Cup debacle - and including Wilshere for the Hungary game would certainly be a pointer to the future.

Micah Richards, Lee Cattermole, Adam Johnson and Theo Walcott are also absent from the Under-21 squad, suggesting they too could be in Capello's Wembley plans.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger highlighted Wilshere's international credentials after the 18-year-old produced a man-of-the-match performance against Celtic last Sunday.

Newcastle's latest recruit Dan Gosling is also absent from the Under-21s though Everton's highly-rated midfielder Jack Rodwell, who has been tipped for senior honours in the near future, has been retained in a 19-man squad.

Pearce has called up four newcomers - defenders Phil Jones and Martin Kelly plus midfielders Marc Albrighton and Jordan Henderson.

The Uzbekistan game is England's only warm-up leading into their European Championship qualifiers agains Portugal and Lithuania in September.

After losing to Greece in March, England must win both games to qualify for the play-offs.

"Henderson would have been with us in March but he picked up an injury which ruled him out," said Pearce.

"Phil Jones did fantastically well at the back end of last season at Blackburn. Anyone who gets in and plays in the Premier League has got to be taken seriously.

"Marc Albrighton did extremely well on both occasions (we watched him) and he thoroughly deserves to be with us and it's a great opportunity for Martin Kelly.

"We're looking forward to playing again after sitting on a defeat for five months. The defeat to Greece put us in a difficult position in the group so we need to be ready.

"It's given us a lot of planning time, so to have a friendly next week is great for us.

"It's not just good for fitness, but to have a look at some new players and tactics.It will also provide one or two players with a chance to stake a claim for the new season."