George Burley has offered quite a few paeans to Darren Fletcher in his time, but the Scotland manager adopted a rare position in his praise yesterday — claiming that, right now, the Manchester United midfield player would be selected by Fabio Capello for the England squad.

Given their recent, bleak years, it has been a rare thing for a Scotland manager to make such a bold statement, but Burley was unabashed in his singing of Fletcher’s glories in Glasgow.

In a bold — some would say perhaps even more dubious — claim, the Scotland manager also argued that “English [football] pundits” would all say that Fletcher was good enough to play for England.

“Darren is a great player in his own right and has matured with age,” Burley said. “He leads by example and has shown that in the last few years for Scotland. He loves playing for Scotland. And ask his team-mates, or other managers in football, and they’ll tell you that you can’t get a better team player.

“I thought he was absolutely magnificent against Holland. It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from him. I’ve not seen all his Scotland matches, but he was terrific that night.

“I think if you speak to any English pundit, they will say Darren is one of the best midfield players in Britain. There’s no doubt about that. If you asked anyone, he’d make the England squad.”

Burley, who will make Fletcher his captain against Wales in Cardiff this weekend, argued that it was the 25-year-old Scot’s resilience in sticking to his career at Old Trafford that had made him such a complete footballer.

“It’s great for a kid who could have left Manchester United three or four years ago,” the Scotland manager said. “Darren wasn’t playing regularly, but he stuck to this task and his beliefs. Sir Alex [Ferguson] always believed in him, but his problem was looking at the squad and trying to work out how he’d get a regular game.

“Darren has managed that now and it shows great courage to say, ‘I’ll stick at it here and prove my worth.’ Now everyone speaks of him more than any other midfielder at Manchester United.

“That’s been down to real progress over the last few years and it’s a lot to do with his strength of character. He has great desire and a competitive spirit — the confidence has grown because of the type of lad he is.

“To have a lad like that available and for him to be captain of this country is great. He is the all-round package for a midfielder.”

Burley went so far as to say that he is virtually agog these days every time he sees Fletcher pull on a Manchester United top.

“He is magnificent,” he said. “He’ll never give in, he always works hard and he’s got better and better. I’ve seen improvement in his game in the last year or so.

“Look at Manchester United on Sunday [during their 1-0 defeat by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge]. He’s spraying the ball about, playing one-twos, winning tackles, headers at one end and shooting at the other.

“I think Darren’s spirit has rubbed off on others. Other players see his desire and it makes you stronger. As a manager, it certainly makes you feel good to see him on your side.”