Richard Stearman has set his sights on nailing down a permanent place for Wolves and using the Premier League platform to break his way into England contention.

The defender, who made his top-flight debut at Wigan, is back in the team after Kevin Foley suffered a medial ligament injury in the season-opener against West Ham.

The Wolverhampton-born stopper joined his home-town club 14 months ago and went on to break into the England Under-21 side, following on from caps at under-17, under-18 and under-19 level.

Just the biggest international hurdle of all remains, a full cap for his country.

But England coach Fabio Capello proved that being a player at Wolves is no barrier when he called up Michael Mancienne last November – and that was when they were in the Championship.

He didn’t play in the 2-1 friendly win over Germany in Berlin but his call-up proved Capello will not limit his horizons to players at the Premier League big boys.

So if Stearman can go all guns blazing as a regular fixture with club, then country could well be his oyster.

He said: “Once you are in the Premier League there are a lot more eyes watching you. It’s certainly the pinnacle of where you want to be.

“I am no different, I have played in every age group for my country so far and my big aspiration would be to get into the England team. If I keep getting games under my belt I cannot be ignored forever.”

The former Foxes man was Mancienne’s regular partner in defence when the on-loan Chelsea defender got the call from Capello, with Stearman instead making his under-21 bow three days later.

But even a debut with Stuart Pearce’s youngsters against the Czech Republic could not compare to the experience of joining the senior squad for a friendly against Germany.

Stearman, who turned 22 earlier this month, could have been forgiven for feeling a tad jealous, but he instead took heart from what his team-mate had achieved.

He said: “It spurred me on if anything. It’s where I would want to be, and it’s proved that young talent at Wolves will be given a fair chance with England, which was great.

“We struck up a good partnership and he ended up getting a call-up. Getting noticed is even more possible now we are both playing at the highest level.”