Rio Ferdinand believes Jadon Sancho would be right to feel disgruntled over missing out on the latest England squad given his form for Manchester United this season.
The 22-year-old will miss out on the last opportunity to prove his worth in an England shirt before the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
“There’s a lot of defenders. I think the only real surprise in there is probably the amount of players that he’s got that aren’t playing regular football at their clubs,” Ferdinand told BT Sport, as quoted by The Metro.
“Given the kind of stance that Gareth had when he got the job in terms of players playing minutes and picking players on form.
“Jadon Sancho will be one player who will probably look at that squad and think I’ve done what’s expected of me as a winger in terms of output, numbers-wise this season and I’m doing better in terms of numbers than other players, and I’m still not getting a look in.
“He could probably feel disgruntled.
“But I think that squad is a lot of what we would expect.”
Gareth Southgate named a 28-man squad for England’s Nations League fixtures against Italy and Germany. He picked three Manchester United players, including loanee Dean Henderson.
But it’s the likes of Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw getting the nod over Sancho I don’t understand. You can’t say they are in form or that they’re even playing enough football. Neither can be considered regulars since Erik ten Hag’s arrival.
Meanwhile, Sancho has registered three goals across all competitions for United, showing better form than he did in his first season at the club – but he still missed out on a place in Southgate’s squad. It begs the question what does Sancho need to do to get into the World Cup squad?
I, personally, would prefer to see Sancho focus on United anyway.
Southgate hardly used Sancho at Euro 2020 but still expected him to put away his penalty in the final against Italy. It was a set up.
