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Rio Ferdinand says he would retire from England duty if he was continually overlooked by Gareth Southgate just like James Ward-Prowse and others have been.<\/p>\n
Chelsea news, exclusives and analysis<\/p>\n
Southgate named his Three Lions squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine and friendly with Scotland last week and, as per usual, it divided opinion.<\/p>\n
Much of the discourse centered around the inclusion of Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips despite their lack of game time or form for Manchester United and Manchester City respectively over the course of the year.<\/p>\n
The pair made the cut ahead of the likes of West Ham duo Ward-Prowse and Jarrod Bowen who have made a blistering start to this season, with the Irons fourth in the table and unbeaten after four games.<\/p>\n
Midfielder Phillips getting in ahead of Ward-Prowse has really irritated fans, given that the former has played just six minutes this campaign, while the latter has one goal and four assists in four appearances for West Ham and former club Southampton.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve never known a manager to pick players that are consistently not playing,\u2019 former United and England defender Ferdinand fumed on the FIVE podcast.<\/p>\n
\u2018I get it if a player hasn\u2019t played for five, six or 10 games maybe. But Phillips and Maguire don\u2019t kick a ball. They don\u2019t play, they do warm-ups and they\u2019re getting in England squads. It amazes me.<\/p>\n
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\u2018Southgate comes out and says we haven\u2019t got defenders. Go and use a young one man! Go and use someone young or inexperienced who you\u2019re thinking about. You know what Maguire does.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s a reward for performances playing for England. It\u2019s the best players that are currently playing in their teams. Maguire don\u2019t kick a ball. He comes on for cameos here and there.<\/p>\n
\u2018Kalvin with respect isn\u2019t anywhere near the Man City team. He won a treble last year and well done to him but he ain\u2019t kicked a ball. These men ain\u2019t playing football and they\u2019re still getting in a team based off of work that they done two, three years ago.<\/p>\n
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\u2018They\u2019ll be other young midfielders or [someone like] James Ward-Prowse that are thinking, \u201cWow, what\u2019s happening here? How come I\u2019m not getting a looking?\u201d. It\u2019s a kick in the teeth.\u2019<\/p>\n
There was also controversy over the selection of Jordan Henderson following his move to the Saudi Pro League and the exclusion of Raheem Sterling despite his fantastic form for Chelsea in the opening fixtures.<\/p>\n
\u2018If I was Sterling, I\u2019d be very disappointed bearing in mind what he\u2019s done for this England team when he\u2019s been in or around it,\u2019 Ferdinand added.<\/p>\n
\u2018If you\u2019re going by the yard stick that Gareth\u2019s using with the likes of Maguire and Phillips, why is it all right for them guys to get in and not him? Sterling\u2019s probably been the main bright spark at Chelsea. It\u2019s just nuts.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019d retire. If I\u2019m someone like Ward-Prowse I\u2019d just retire. Say, \u201clisten, don\u2019t pick me no more. There\u2019s no point. It\u2019s disrespectful what you\u2019re doing\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018It is to people like him, especially Ward-Prowse who\u2019s been putting up numbers for his team on a regular basis. What more does a man got to do to get a sniff?\u2019<\/p>\n