Jones on brink of England bow as Capello considers handing debut to United defender

Fabio Capello is considering a shock England debut for Phil Jones against Montenegro on Friday night.

The England manager did not even name the 19-year-old on his bench for last month's European Championship double header against Bulgaria and Wales.

Centre of attention: Capello could turn to United defender Jones (centre)

But Capello is struggling to ignore a centre-half keeping Rio Ferdinand out of the Manchester United team and now has to decide whether to select him ahead of Gary Cahill.

Capello is the first to acknowledge that Cahill performed extremely well for England as John Terry's partner in those recent wins in Sofia and at Wembley.

Double act: Jones could be partnered alongside Terry 

But Cahill is part of a Bolton team currently struggling at the bottom of the Barclays Premier League and Capello has been studying his form in those matches, in particular in Chelsea's 5-1 win at The Reebok Stadium last weekend.

Only last week Capello described Jones as 'an incredible talent' and he will now spend the next 24 hours considering the merits of the two players. On a day when Capello's mere presence as England manager was branded a form of 'cheating' by Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, the Italian was weighing up some other selection issues.

The squad heads out here to Podgorica this morning but yesterday Capello stage a practice match of 20 minutes each way and Frank Lampard is understood to have excelled.

That, combined with his more recent form for Chelsea, makes him a serious contender for a starting place, while Phil Jagielka continues to occupy Capello' s thoughts at right back.

In contention: Capello prefers Jagielka (centre) to Richards (left)

Capello remains uncertain about Micah Richards so it is between Jagielka and Kyle Walker. 

The inclusion of Lampard as partner to Scott Parker in central midfield, and Capello's apparent desire to play another striker with Wayne Rooney, points to a more orthodox 4-4-2 formation.

Danny Welbeck, Darren Bent and Bobby Zamora are in contention for that role.