At a recent celebration of his first year in charge of the national team Fabio Capello took time to reflect on the past 12 months and also look to the future. He’s clearly a very intelligent man who’s done the right things to restore confidence to the national set up after the disastrous McClaren era.

You can read a decent article here, but I wanted to highlight his words on James Milner:-

Capello concedes there is much work to do if England are to make a realistic challenge in South Africa, but is convinced the future is bright after last month’s 2-1 win over Germany. The Italian has been most heartened by the performances of Aston Villa’s young English players this season, with James Milner catching his eye along with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young.

“I’m very happy for players that play with Aston Villa,” Capello said. “They are young players and are performing. The other young player I like is Milner. He’s the future, my future. He was close when he was a Newcastle player, but was injured before we put him in the squad.

“He’s a very interesting player and always very good for the under-21s. He scored two goals in the first game I saw, against the Republic of Ireland in Southampton, I think. I remember this game because I thought he was a good player.”

Milner’s got some stiff competition for the right wing role in the national team, but can you imagine the next World Cup with Villa supplying a three pronged attacking force of Ash, Gabby & Milner. Add Barry in the middle and perhaps Davies backing them, sprinkle in a Sidwell or Reo-Coker into the squad and we shouldn’t be changing our name to Aston Villa Birmingham, it will be Aston Villa England!!!

One thing is for sure, if you’re a decent player looking to progress your career to international level you could do a lot worse than playing for the Villa!!