 Stuart Pearce believes Steven Taylor can become an established England international after admitting he could not praise the Newcastle defender enough following his heroics in Holland. And, having received encouragement from Steve McClaren, the United favourite is desperate to win promotion to the senior squad as he strives to make a long-held dream come true. Taylor returned to the North-East on crutches last night and is expected to spend the next four weeks recovering from the ankle ligament problem he suffered during Wednesday's frenetic European Under-21 Championship semi-final against the Netherlands. Although injured and in obvious discomfort, Taylor was forced to soldier on for more than 30 minutes in Heerenveen and even took a penalty during an astonishing shoot-out that the Dutch eventually won 13-12. In doing so, the stricken stopper won Pearce's respect and unbridled admiration. "He's the closest to Terry Butcher that I've seen," said the England coach who, having used all his substitutes, was unable to replace Taylor as a dramatic match went into extra-time at the Abe Lenstra Stadion. "I met his father (after the game) and the biggest recommendation I could give the kid is that if my son turned out to have a mentality like him, I would be very, very proud of him. "I can say no more about the boy. The beauty of working with these young lads is that you get to know them inside out. What a character this kid has got - unbelievable. "Ability-wise he has impressed me as well. He has handled everything that has been thrown at him and is an absolute credit to his football club, to himself and to his family." Pearce - himself a former Newcastle defender - played with Butcher at the 1990 World Cup finals and has identified similarities between Taylor and his one-time team-mate, who won 77 international caps during a distinguished career. The former Manchester City boss believes the United stopper will make the grade at senior level and having already represented England in last month's B international against Albania, Taylor will hope to win a place in McClaren's plans. Like Pearce, the Three Lions boss is an admirer. "After I had the drugs test after the game, he (McClaren) was really encouraging," said Taylor last night. "The Under-21s is a great honour, but to play in the senior side would be a dream come true." Should he remain in the Under-21 set-up for the time-being, Taylor is expected to be made captain. Given his exploits in Heerenveen, he deserves such recognition. "There was a lot of pain," said a player who will visit Newcastle's medical staff for an examination this morning before taking a well-earned holiday, with Taylor and James Milner both set to be excused from the club's pre-season training camp in Austria next month. "There's no way on earth I would walk off that pitch leaving 10 men." Taylor became a central figure in an astonishing shoot-out, with Holland coach Foppe De Haan storming onto the pitch to tell the referee the limping defender had to take a spot-kick. "As I walked off, their manager came up to me, shouting to me `coward' and `cheat' - I couldn't believe he called me that," he added. "I went up and grabbed the ball straight away and got on with it. There was no better feeling than sticking it in back of the net." | 
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