On Sunday, I found myself in the pub watching Wigan play Tottenham, as I am sure many of you did too.

I would like to say I dragged everyone there at the last minute because I love football and every game brings me untold joy.

Unfortunately, it had more to do with seeing a glimpse of Wigan’s substitute’s bench - being the kind of person who watches an Andy Johnson game at every opportunity I felt the need to see how Victor Moses would get on in one of his first appearances in the big time.

Then he came on, queue much bowing on my part and a fair amount of bemusement from the rest of the people in the bar in Stoke-on-Trent.

This bemusement only grew as the game went on as Moses struggled against the Spurs defence, admittedly on a pitch that lent itself more to agriculture than football.

Stuart Pearce obviously saw something in his performance that he hadn’t seen from Moses in the previous months in the championship though and duly called him up to the England U21 squad.

Many would be forgiven for thinking that the new symbol he finds on the sleeve of his Wigan shirt had more to do with this than his actual performance.

Maybe it’s a cynical view but it is one that seems to hold some water since Stuart Pearce’s appointment as U21 manager.

When you look at the U21 squad as it stands both Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker have been regulars this season despite having been largely ignored by Harry Redknapp after big money moves from Sheffield United in the summer.

Maybe merely training with Tottenham makes you an instantly better player but a certain John Bostock may disagree with that school of thought.

Fabien Delph is another player who has struggled for regular games at Aston Villa but continues to be called up for England.

I’m not suggesting Moses should have a divine right to be promoted to the U21s, admittedly his form was not always consistent despite his 69 appearances for the club, but he has always performed well at England level and we all knew he was more than capable of stepping up to the U21s.

What sends out a bad and rather damaging message to youngsters at football league clubs is that his call up only happened after moving to the Premier League despite not showing any more in terms of ability than when he was at Palace.

What must be going through the minds of players like Nathaniel Clyne for instance?

He showed great loyalty by rejecting a move to Premier League Wolves last month but will his England aspirations be made to suffer because of this?

He is certainly good enough to be playing at that level and he already has more league appearances at the tender age of 18 than many of the U21 squad but he still doesn’t seem to get noticed and will instead be plying his trade with the U19s against Holland on Tuesday.

There is a financial side to this as well.

Players like Moses often increase in value with England U21 caps to their name as they are seen to have experience at international level.

If young players continue to be ignored until they are forced into the Premier League then it will, in time, perpetuate the current epidemic of Premier League scouts turning the heads of youngsters.

They already have money as a bargaining tool, it’s wrong for them to be able to use international recognition as well.