England U21 boss Stuart Pearce would like to see his side play against npower Championship teams.
Pearce claims the progression of his players is being hindered by their lack of first-team action at Premier League clubs.
And the former Manchester City manager wants to see those U21 players who are not featuring for their clubs play under him in friendlies against Championship sides every other week.
Pearce told the Life’s a Pitch website: “Can we put an England U21 team in the Championship to play games every other week?
“Don’t play home games, just play away games, so there’s an odd number of teams in the Championship. So I get 21 friendlies a year.
“On top of that all these players that are not playing regularly of a weekend can come and join me and when I have the opportunity to play European Championship qualifiers I would have had a team playing together that basically know each other inside-out.
“If I had, let’s say, a Daniel Sturridge who was with us at Manchester City, and he either goes away and plays a game for the U21s in a friendly against a good Championship side or alternatively plays in a friendly God knows where on Wednesday night where he’s thinking to himself ‘I don’t want to be here’.
“But it’s whether it can be sold to the clubs, it’s whether they really want to put the club hat or really want to do something radical instead of coming back every two years or four years after a major tournament and a disappointment and turn round and say ‘we’re going to have to do something’.
“They’re throwaway lines. If we’re serious about doing something, let’s do something.”