The 20-year-old has had rave reviews during his current loan spell at Wolves, and has impressed England boss Fabio Capello.

Muamba, who has played with Mancienne at several England levels, said: "The guy is a very good player, and I'm very happy for him to be there.

"He plays like Rio; he's very chilled, very relaxed - but he's a very good player as well, with good pace, and a great reader of the game.

"I've no worries about him being able to handle it."

Mancienne's absence leaves a gap in central defence for the Under-21s when they take on the Czech Republic at Bramall Lane on Tuesday night.

Muamba believes, though, that Stuart Pearce's side have identified some key weaknesses in the visitors' line-up.

He added: "They are a good team who play on the counter-attack. But they are not the best at set pieces or defending one-on-one, so we are confident we can exploit that."