
Andre Wisdom says the experience of playing alongside Steven Gerrard has given him a great chance of being a successful England U21s captain.
A graduate of the Liverpool youth system, manager Gareth Southgate yesterday confirmed the 20-year-old defender as permanent Young Lions' skipper.
Wisdom captained the side in Stuart Pearce's last game in charge and also by Roy Hodgson for last month's friendly win against Scotland, so his appointment was no great surprise.
His first job as captain will be to lead the side out on Thursday for their opening European Championship qualifier against Moldova - a day before Liverpool team-mate Gerrard does the same at Wembley.
The senior team are also taking on the eastern Europeans and Wisdom hopes to go some way to emulating the England captain.
"Steven Gerrard is a great captain for club and country," the defender said.
"I am a defender and he is a midfielder, but it doesn't matter what position you play. You can learn a lot from him, especially being young.
"Training with him every day I see the way he presents himself and the way he lifts teams in time of need for club or country.
"He has done that many times and it is good to learn from him.
"I haven't asked him for tips but I can see the way he lifts the team and hopefully I can do the same.
"I am very honoured to captain any England side at any level, so I am glad to have maintained the captaincy and hopefully we can go on and do well."
Wisdom heads into the match fresh from Liverpool's 1-0 defeat of rivals Manchester United.
The defender came on with 12 minutes remaining and helped close out the match, maintaining the Reds' 100 per cent winning start.
Wisdom did well to keep United at bay and is highly thought of at Anfield, with fellow defender Kolo Toure sure he will become one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
"It is obviously good to be called a wise head on young shoulders - I think it goes well with my second name as well," he said with a smile.
"It is good to try and take everything in your stride and try to be as humbles as possible.
"I try to learn as much as I can from players like Kolo Toure and Jamie Carragher, who has recently retired, and take as much as you can each day."
Source: Sporting Life
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