Rodgers Hopeful U21 Quartet Can Follow Mata's Example

Brendan Rodgers is hoping his England U21 stars can follow in the footsteps of Juan Mata and reap the rewards of a busy summer campaign.

Andre Wisdom, Jack Robinson, Jordan Henderson and Jonjo Shelvey have all been called up to Stuart Pearce's squad for the U21 European Championships where England kick off their campaign against Italy on June 5.

Rather than being concerned with his players' hectic schedule, Rodgers wants his players to relish the occasion of representing their country, and hopes his young hopefuls will follow in the same path as Chelsea's Spanish star Mata and benefit from the experience.

"All these football experiences are good for them," Rodgers told Liverpool's official website. "I'm not one who is against players representing their countries.

"Obviously there needs to be a balance in terms of the demands placed on them but I look upon it as a real positive that we have four players called up.

"Look at someone like Juan Mata. Two years ago he dropped down from the senior Spain squad to the U21's and helped them win the tournament.

"A year later he was part of the team who won Euro 2012 and then last summer he went off to the Olympics. This season he's gone on and played more than 60 games."

Raheem Sterling was a surprise omission from Stuart Pearce's 23 man squad for next week's tournament in Israel. The 18-year-olld has enjoyed a fantastic break out campaign, but saw the latter months of the season curtailed by injury.

Having not featured for Liverpool since the end of March, former Swansea City boss Rodgers revealed the club and the England U21 set up mutually agreed to allow the teenager to rest this summer, amid concerns over his long term fitness.

"I spoke to Stuart Pearce about it and our medics were in conversation with the England doctors," Rodgers added. "Everyone was in agreement that we need to look after the long term situation with Raheem.

"He's obviously had a chronic problem where he's been playing and working through it. But we needed to give him recovery and rest. He will be better for that. He's making progress and he will be fresh for the beginning of the season."