Rio Ferdinand has launched a staunch defence of West Ham United ace James Ward-Prowse after his England snub.
Gareth Southgate chose not to select West Ham midfielder James Ward-Prowse in his latest England squad – a decision that Rio Ferdinand has been highly critical of.
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Ferdinand, an 81-capped England international, has been speaking about the current England situation on his Vibe with Five YouTube channel.
Ward-Prowse, 28, has been excellent for the Hammers since moving to the London Stadium from Southampton in the summer.
Southgate chose to ignore the midfielder once again though, when naming his latest England squad…
Rio Ferdinand launches staunch defence of underappreciated West Ham star
The former Hammer believes that the 28-year-old midfielder, who has 11 caps for England to his name, should retire from international football.
Rio said:
“I’ve never known a manager to pick players that are consistently not playing. I get it if a player hasn’t played for five, six or 10 games maybe. But Phillips and Maguire don’t kick a ball. They don’t play, they do warm-ups and they’re getting in England squads. It amazes me. I’d retire. If I’m people like Ward-Prowse I’d just retire. Say, ‘listen, don’t pick me no more. There’s no point. It’s disrespectful what you’re doing’. It is to people like him, especially Ward-Prowse who’s been putting up numbers for his team on a regular basis. What more does a man have to do to get a sniff?”
I think that people are getting confused by even mentioning Phillips in the Ward-Prowse debate – they should be two separate issues entirely.
The Manchester City midfielder plays in a completely different role to Ward-Prowse. It’s fine to argue that the West Ham midfielder should have been included in the squad, or that Phillips should have been omitted from it.
However, suggesting that Southgate should have taken one in place of the other makes no sense.
I do feel as though Ward-Prowse has done enough to get the call-up, but Southgate obviously doesn’t fancy him for one reason or another.
And because of that, Rio Ferdinand is probably right – the West Ham star should state that he is unavailable for international selection from this point onwards.
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