Stuart Pearce will give the first of two international team talks within 24 hours this evening when he sends out his England Under-21 team to face their Poland counterparts at Molineux, in Wolverhampton, before flying to Paris to act as Fabio Capello's mouthpiece for the senior team's friendly against France.

The England Under-21 head coach, who is learning Italian, will help to convey Capello's instructions to the senior players tomorrow as part of his dual role in the international set-up. Pearce may be in charge of leading his young squad, who are unbeaten this season, towards qualification for next summer's European Under-21 Championship finals in Sweden, but his status as a potential future England manager is only underlined by the trust being placed in him by Capello.

“It's normally in the dressing-room that we are in each other's company,” Pearce said. “I'm in the company of four or five Italians, so the translator will latch on to me to translate everything they're saying. Because they are crucial times, leading up to the game, half-time and afterwards, talking to the players.

“It's general points that he [Capello] really wants to nail home and certain individual points that he's asked me [to tell them]. He's spoken it in English, but he obviously wants to make sure they hear it from a voice that he knows full well they're going to understand.”

Pearce will give several squad players a starting chance at Molineux this evening after Theo Walcott, David Wheater and Gabriel Agbonlahor were promoted to Capello's initial 30-man squad last week.

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