Wolves defender Richard Stearman is savouring a summer date with Europe’s finest young football talent after a call-up to England’s under- 21 European Championships squad.

The centre-half was called in as the first line of replacement for injured Newcastle man Steven Taylor, while coach Stuart Pearce has also recruited Spurs midfielder Danny Rose to replace another of his pull-outs in Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck.

Now Stearman has the chance to figure in one of the football schedule’s increasingly high-profile junior tournaments, as England prepare to face the cream of Europe in the tournament being staged in Sweden.

He helps replenish the 23-man squad Pearce will take next week to begin preparations for their first match against Finland on 15 June, but before then they have a friendly against Azerbaijan at Milton Keynes’ Stadium MK on Monday evening.

The demands of his under-21 duties means that Stearman’s preparations for his first Premier League campaign will now be subject to major change.

England kick off the tournament and if they progress to the later stages could be in action in the final week of the month, after which Wolves players are due to start heading back from holidays to begin getting ready for their two-game trip to Australia.

But having finished the season on the substitutes’ bench understudying the Jody Craddock and Christophe Berra partnership in central defence, Stearman will happily swop the loss of valuable rest time for the chance to shine with his country.

Wolves scouts will be among the possee of representatives from all over the continent searching out new talent, with the Sky TV screenings ensure Stearman will be involved in a high profile footballing showpiece.

Stearman has long been marked out for international grooming.

He represented England at Under-17 and Under-18 level and was first called up to the Under-21s while at Leicester in 2007, when the qualifying campaign for this tournament began.

The defender finally made his debut in a 2-0 friendly win over the Czech Republic under-21 side on 18 November 2008.