Phil Jones, centre, enjoys England training with his
Manchester United team-mates Danny Wellbeck and Ashley Young.
Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
Manchester United identified Phil Jones as a transfer target
long before they were crushed by Barcelona in last season's
Champions League final. But the majesty of Barça's play from the
rear of the pitch made it seem an especially smart move to hand
Blackburn Rovers £17m for a young defender who might match the
mobility and elegance of Gerard Piqué.
Europe's champions start forward plays not from the front but
the back, where Piqué, who had spent four years on United's books,
and the goalkeeper are assigned to always use the ball
constructively in a sequence that invites Lionel Messi, Xavi,
Andrés Iniesta and now Cesc Fábregas to do the rest. United are
among the great powers seeking answers to Barcelona's dominance.
Agile and audacious in his forward moves, Jones offers United
an alternative in Europe to two centre‑backs who confine themselves
to marking men or space.
Jones is on the continent this week, but not in one of the great
Champions League citadels. He is in the England camp where Rio Ferdinand has
already lost his place and John Terry is in his autumn years.
For Fabio Capello the clock stops when
England's involvement in Euro 2012 ceases. Though he makes the
right noises about youth – and his own role in its development –
Capello remains active in the self-preservation society. Repairing
the damage to his reputation from the World Cup is a more pressing
task than sprinkling the rose of English youth.
So the choice of England's defensive line against Montenegro is
no straightforwardly meritocratic debate. Kevin Keegan would have
thrown Jones into England's last Euro 2012 qualifier. In training
Glenn Hoddle would have shown him how to pass the ball 40 yards and
found some clever role for "the boy Jones". Sven‑Goran Eriksson
would have asked David Beckham whether he thought Manchester
United's new star was ready and acted on the answer. Capello, the
pragmatist, will simply have weighed up the risks, to the campaign
and to himself.
They said Eriksson was a "lucky coach" but fortune has dropped a
windfall on Capello's last months in charge. Jones and Chris
Smalling have transformed England's defensive potential, at
centre-half and right‑back, where both can play. The coach's
alternatives, in Podgorica, are to play safe with the gritty
Premier League nous of Phil Jagielka or the mid-range experience of
Gary Cahill, the defensive leader in a collapsing Bolton Wanderers
side.
Of course the Jones-Piqué analogy is imperfect. Piqué passes the
ball from the back whereas Jones, 19, tends to carry it downfield.
The point is that both are starters and not merely stoppers.
Montenegro is no place for centre-backs to be galloping into
hostile territory. But it's a good a place as any to issue a
declaration about England's future and offer Jones his debut in the
last competitive fixture before Euro 2012.
A victim, sometimes, of his own exuberance, Jones was advised by
Martin Keown on the radio this week to always take care of his
defensive responsibilities before trying to wreak havoc on the
opposition. Keown supports the widespread view that the prodigy
needs to stay "close to his partner" against good opposition.
With Nemanja Vidic injured, and Ferdinand out of sorts, Jones
is missing a colleague to administer that lesson during United's
games. But Terry would not be slow to recite it in
Podgorica.
In an interview in these pages Micah Richards revealed that
Jones was "disappointed" not to feature in the Bulgaria and
Wales games. "But he's only 19 and he's got another 10 years
ahead of him with England," Richards said, conservatively. He also
called his Manchester rival "a future England captain".
Teenage terrors are rare in this country's colours. Michael
Owen, Wayne Rooney and Richards himself (debut at 18) required
exceptional precocity to break the door down. Jones brings another
question: where should he play, given his versatility? If
centre-back is the answer, England might as well proceed with the
task of teaching him when to stick or twist in international
football. The alternative is to arrive in Poland
and Ukraine with the country's best young defender since
Ferdinand still a virgin in competitive fixtures.
The "incredible talent" Capello says he sees enters the picture
at the perfect moment to test his manager's boldness/conservatism
ratio. His admirers will point out that neither Cahill nor Jagielka
is a proven tournament-class defender. So why play safe with a
replacement for Ferdinand who may fill only a back-up role next
summer? Why not make the leap now and display Jones's talent to the
nations England will face in a competition where the semi-finals
are their furthest point of advance?
Below the surface of steady integration many of these England
players are biding time until Capello passes through the system and
a new, younger side forms, post-2012. Jones needs coaching,
guiding, educating in the brutal realities of international action.
Montenegro looks a good place to start.