Drinkwater will deeply regret his rash call... I should know

DANNY Drinkwater has made the biggest mistake of his career in snubbing Gareth Southgate.

Telling Glenn Hoddle that I would not play in an England B fixture in 1998 was the worst decision I ever made. At the age of 24, my international career was over.

Now, Drinkwater’s chances of playing at the World Cup are surely over and future England managers — never mind Southgate — will not want to touch him.

On a purely practical level, it would have made sense for Drinkwater to join up with England. Given he has had little game-time for Chelsea, these games would have been a perfect opportunity for him to get minutes under his belt.

There is stiff competition in midfield at Chelsea, but had Drinkwater shone against quality opposition — Germany tonight and Brazil on Tuesday — he could have forced his way into Antonio Conte’s thinking.

Now, Conte will only be able to judge him in Under 23 matches or League Cup ties.

While his route to the Chelsea first team may be blocked, it is not as if Drinkwater has Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard in his way when it comes to England. There are no established, topquality English midfielders.

Chelsea signed Drinkwater for a reason. He played a central role in Leicester’s title-winning campaign and these friendlies would have been a great chance for him to make his mark ahead of the World Cup.

Nobody was tipping Harry Winks for a place in the World Cup squad before Southgate handed him a debut against Lithuania last month. Since impressing in that game, Winks has excelled for Tottenham against Real Madrid and Liverpool. Now he is the most talked-about young English player and looks set for Russia. It would be odd if Drinkwater still harbours a grudge at being left out of the Euro 2016 squad having just won the title with Leicester.

England have a different manager in charge now who clearly wanted to pick him.

If anything, the disappointment of 2016 should have given him added motivation to make it to this tournament.

I cannot believe Drinkwater would not want to play in a World Cup. Is that not the dream for every footballer?

If I could turn back the clock, I would have behaved differently. This is a decision Drinkwater will regret for years to come.