Stuart Pearce has insisted it was not any hindrance to his plans to see Phil Jones and Jordan Henderson head to Manchester United and Liverpool respectively to tie up their transfers.
Pearce is preparing the England Under-21s for this summer's European Championship, but he saw Blackburn defender Jones and Sunderland midfielder Henderson whisked away on Wednesday. The pair are believed to have tied up deals, which Pearce confirmed before later backtracking somewhat.
They returned to the England camp in Denmark on Wednesday night and trained on Thursday. Pearce feels they are level-headed enough to cope with the distractions and believes it will aid him for them to tie up moves before the campaign starts against Spain on Sunday.
"It wasn't a hindrance as I know what sort of players I am dealing with with those individuals," Pearce said at a press conference on Thursday. "They are fantastically focused and a pleasure to work with. I had contact with both of them, in respect to asking permission to speak with the clubs and tie up the individual deals.
"If I had put myself in that position I would want the deals tied up before a major championship for sure. I would not want to worry about it during a major championship and I think that was their mentality as well.
"They have got those deals all signed and sealed, they were back with us last night and back on the training pitch this morning.
"They are extremely talented players and I am not surprised they have had clubs chasing them.
"They are back with us, they are quite happy. I have not spoken with them in any depth about what has gone on. We were happy for them to go and speak to the clubs and it is not really my business. What we know is they are back and focused on the Under-21s."
Conor Wickham limped out of training on Thursday, but Pearce feels the Ipswich striker will be fine.
"It is precautionary more than anything," he said. "What we don't want to do is push someone out on a pitch and lose them for more days than we should. He will be fine."
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