"Tomorrow is the ideal time to give Chris his debut," he said. "I'm convinced that when he does finally get the England shirt, he'll take some shifting.
"When I was manager at Tranmere I watched him a lot in his under-21 days and he produced some outstanding performances. He showed then there was an awful lot to come.
"He would have made his full England debut years ago, but for some ridiculously bad luck with injuries at bad times.
"There's no doubt in my mind he's the best English keeper around."