Hodgson confirms Wilshere will not feature in Under-21 European Championship this summer

Feb 1, 2013 11:45:00 AM

The England boss has described the Arsenal midfielder as a "bona fide first-team player" and says he cannot be compared to the likes of Zaha, Sterling and Shelvey

England boss Roy Hodgson has confirmed that Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere will not take part in this summer's Under-21 European Championship.

The former West Brom boss this week confirmed his squad to face Brazil in a friendly to kick off the FA's 150th anniversary year, with youngsters such as Phil Jones, Jordan Henderson and Wilfried Zaha all dropping down to the Under-21 squad to face Sweden at Walsall on Tuesday.

Hodgson, however, says that Wilshere is in a different class to the other young Englishman and is now an important part of the senior set-up.

"It is not right to compare Jack with [Wilfried] Zaha, [Raheem] Sterling and [Jonjo] Shelvey, etc," Hodgson told Sky Sports.

"You have to give Wilshere the credit that he has established himself as a bona fide first-team player."

The England manager also dismissed suggestions that the Under-21 tournament added an unecessary burden to youngster insisted they still have plenty of time to rest in the summer.

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He added: "Tournaments are played at the end of a football season; how do you avoid the players not having played a long season before, unless it is being suggested that anyone picked doesn't play for their clubs for five or six weeks beforehand? I don't think that would be very popular.

"The U-21 tournament finishes in the middle of June. I don't think the Premier League kicks off again in the middle of August.

"Two months is a long time. Quite a lot of people in normal jobs wouldn't mind two months of not having any real pressure to perform."

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