Fabio Capello will spring a surprise by naming an extended England squad for his first match, with Switzerland, several days earlier than expected. The manager will review his selections in the light of the weekend fixtures, before settling on a final squad of 23, which will be officially confirmed at 7pm on Saturday night.

Capello has discussed the radical plan with his backroom staff at the FA and will settle on the best way forward in the next 48 hours. He favours an initial squad number of roughly 30 as a way of ensuring that he is in control of personnel and is not left scrambling to make up the numbers if players withdraw at short notice because of injury.

The squad seems increasingly unlikely to include David Beckham. Capello is concerned that including a man who has not played competitively since November would send out the wrong message to the other contenders - such as Shaun Wright-Phillips, Aaron Lennon and David Bentley – for the role on the right of midield.

Capello’s new policy of an extended squad will also send out a strong message that he expects players who wish to pull out for fitness reasons first to attend the England camp to be checked by his medical staff. The Italian’s idea is that he names 30 players, perhaps on Thursday or Friday, and preparation can then be made for them to meet up with England at the weekend. At that point, he would expect to be notified of those who are carrying injuries. On Saturday evening, having checked the available personnel, he will stand down a number of players, finalising his squad at the size that is permitted for leading international tournaments.

Capello’s approach underlines the unique way in which the Italian intends to work and the strong methods that he intends to use in dealing with players and club managers. As the power of the Barclays Premier League has grown, the position of the England manager has been increasingly weakened and selection for friendly fixtures has degenerated into farce as players withdraw from England matches only to reappear in a club shirt days later, seemingly recovered.

Picking a squad that he will then cut puts Capello back in the driving seat and allows him to reward players who show loyalty to England. It also means that he can tailor his squad to deal with problems in specific areas.

The final friendly of Capello’s first season is expected to be played on June 1, definitely away from home, with a trip across the Atlantic to the United States or Canada favourite – opposition to be decided.

A minute’s silence will be held before England’s friendly against Switzerland next week to honour the 50th anniversary of the Munich tragedy. Eight Manchester United players were among 23 people killed in an air crash in Munich on February 6, 1958. England’s match at Wembley falls 50 years to the day after the disaster and the England players will mark it by wearing black armbands.

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