James Milner insists he would not be fazed if asked to captain England in Wednesday’s friendly international against Holland after a decade of Premier League and international experience.

Interim coach Stuart Pearce highlighted Manchester City midfielder Milner as someone possessing all the qualities required to skipper his country.

It would be a dream come true for Milner who says he would not shun the extra responsibility or the spotlight if he is chosen to wear the armband.

Asked if he was ready to be captain, Milner said: “I don’t see why not. I have played enough games in the Premier League and played for nearly 10 years now as a professional.

“People say I’m the ideal age to be a captain, between the younger players and the more experienced ones. If asked to do the job I will jump at the chance.

“As a kid growing up, you want to play for your country and dream of one day captaining your country.

“If I am asked to do that, I would be very proud and do it to the best of my ability on and off the field.

“But as a player you still go out there to play as well as you can for England. The team comes first as always, whether you’ve got an armband on or not.”

Milner admits being part of a dressing room full of big-name players at Manchester City on a daily basis may aid him if he is chosen to lead England.

“If you look at the people in that dressing room, it’s full of world-class players and the pressure is on every week to perform, to go out and win trophies.

“Hopefully you can do that, but all the time you’re growing as a person and as a player as much as you can.

“As you get older, you are not just concentrating on yourself but thinking of how you can help younger players coming through and thinking what you can do for the team to help the performance.”

Milner gives a ringing endorsement of the qualities of Pearce, having worked under him when under-21 manager at two European Championship finals.

He believes Pearce would have the qualities needed to lead England at the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine if the Football Association board appoint him.

“As a manager, he knows when to kick you up the backside and knows when to put an arm around you.

“He knows how to get the best out of players before the game. You have the talk before the game and you go out onto the field raring to go.

“People expect him to always be punching walls and throwing teacups but that is not the case. He does it on the rare occasions it is needed but a lot of the time he knows what to say in a calm way.”