CHELSEA defender Michael Mancienne was called into the England squad last night for Wednesday’s friendly against Germany in Berlin without ever playing a match in the Premier League.

Fabio Capello, the England coach, turned to the 20-year-old — currently on loan at Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers — after losing several established stars to injury. John Terry, the Chelsea and England captain, faces a scan on a foot injury today after limping out of his team’s 3-0 win at West Brom last night. Definitely out are Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, who both sat out their side’s 5-0 win over Stoke City yesterday. Ferdinand, England’s deputy captain, has a back injury, while Rooney is suffering with a chest infection and a calf strain.

It is a big step up for Mancienne, although he has played for the Under-21 side eight times. The last player to be called up by England without first having played in the Premier League has had a forgettable time of it since. Striker David Nugent, then a Preston player, seemed to hit the downslope as soon as he stepped off the pitch from his goalscoring international debut, in March 2007.

The one before that, however, has done better. Mancienne will be hoping to follow the path of Arsenal’s Theo Walcott, rather than Nugent, after his shock inclusion in Capello's latest squad.

Walcott was an Arsenal footballer who had never played for their first team when Sven-Göran Eriksson made him a cub wearing Three Lions. Mancienne is another youngster at a big club who has never actually played for his employer. Having been at Chelsea since he was eight years old, the defender has turned out 61 times for Queens Park Rangers on two separate loan spells and on four occasions for Wolves, who are currently borrowing his services, but never for the club who own his registration.

Having been lauded on virtually every occasion he he has turned out in the Championship, Mancienne has been talking recently about leaving Stamford Bridge to further his career and his new status only increases the likelihood of a Premier League club bidding for him in the January transfer window. West Ham and Fulham are already said to be interested.

Mancienne is an elegant, ball-playing defender who prefers to be a centre-half but can also operate at right-back and has been likened to Rio Ferdinand. At the same time, he can be as rugged as any traditional stopper: Mick McCarthy, the Wolves manager, calls Mancienne “a real man” and Chris Iwelumo, his hulking club mate, praises his appetite for the physical battle. Rolls-Roycedisplays for England Under-21s helped prompt his call-up.

In a recent interview Mancienne said that now he is living away from his London home for the first time, he is having to learn how to cook for himself. Apparently he does a good butter chicken. Unexpectedly, he now finds himself at football’s top table.