The immediate focus is Brazil, but the curious case of Luke Young must have been weighing on Fabio Capello’s mind on arrival in Doha yesterday after the Aston Villa defender announced that he was not interested in a recall to the squad or in going to next summer’s World Cup finals.
Young had informed Capello last season of his wish no longer to be considered for international duty, but it emerged yesterday, after Glen Johnson withdrew from the squad through injury, that the Italian asked Franco Baldini, the general manager, to contact the player with a view to calling him up for the friendly against Brazil on Saturday as cover for Wes Brown.
However, word immediately came back from Young’s agent, Andy Evans, that the player would not be tempted out of international retirement.
Capello’s willingness to consider Young will come as a surprise to some, given that the 30-year-old has made only two appearances for Villa this season, having been troubled by a thigh injury. It also indicates the manager’s lack of confidence in Gary Neville, who was briefly recalled to the squad at the end of last season, and Micah Richards, who has disappeared from contention since Capello took charge. But it is Young’s decision to stick to his plan to retire from international football that will cause the most debate.
Young has not added to the seven caps that he won under the Sven- G?ran Eriksson regime, most recently as a substitute in the friendly against Argentina in Geneva four years ago today, but he figured in squads under Steve McClaren and has regularly been on Capello’s radar while the manager has looked for options in addition to Johnson and Brown at right back.
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It was after being called up to face Spain in a friendly in February that Young withdrew — publicly citing an injury, and privately informing Capello of his intention to retire from international football.
An FA spokesman said: “The England management were aware of Luke Young’s position, but sought to clarify this was still the case.”
Although his decision was communicated this year, Young’s enthusiasm for international football was evidently already on the wane after his £5 million transfer to Villa from Middlesbrough in 2008. He stated that he empathised with Jamie Carragher’s decision to retire from international football and hinted that England would not be a consideration for him if his future was as a bit-part player.
“At the age of 29, if I’m going to be in it, I need to be playing,” Young said last year. “Rather than getting ten minutes here and half a game there, I need to come in and start playing. You see how Jamie Carragher pulled out because he was playing as good as anybody in the Premier League, but he was travelling here, there and everywhere and not playing. There’s no chance I would refuse a call-up, but that’s what you have to deal with.”
Even though the decision to retire was made last season, Young’s stance is understood to have hardened after the death of his half-brother, Andre, while on holiday in Crete in August.
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Brown, the Manchester United defender, will start on Saturday in what increasingly looks like a makeshift line-up against Brazil. With David James, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey missing, in addition to Johnson, there are also likely to be starting places for Robert Green, Matthew Upson, Wayne Bridge, Shaun Wright-Phillips, James Milner and Peter Crouch.
For those six fringe players, there is an opportunity to force their way into Capello’s 23-man squad for next summer. But, while Green, Upson, Milner and Crouch appear to have gone some way towards persuading the manager — along with Brown, if he can get a regular run of games with United — Bridge and Wright-Phillips, the Manchester City duo, will be on trial. A poor performance by Bridge on Saturday may persuade Capello to reconsider his plan to take two specialist left backs to South Africa or look at Kieran Gibbs, the Arsenal youngster.