United duo’s lack of minutes proves costly
GARETH Southgate has said that Jadon Sancho and Jesse Lingard haven’t played enough football to be included in his latest England squad, but has no doubt they will be back in the future.
The England boss has named a 25-man squad for the final round of World Cup qualifying fixtures, with the Three Lions hoping to seal their spot in Qatar when they come up against Albania and San Marino.
United have three representatives in the squad with Luke Shaw keeping his spot and Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford earning recalls after missing the last international break due to their respective injuries.
There’s no room for either Lingard or Sancho, however, as they have struggled for minutes at Old Trafford this season.
“With Jesse and with Jadon, they just aren’t playing a lot of football compared to the other players in their positions,” the England boss said.
“I know people say I’m inconsistent but I don’t think I am. If you’re playing regularly for your club you’ve got a much better chance of us assessing your level compared to the rest of the group.
“Sometimes there will be a lot of depth in one position and there might not be as much depth in another position and the player that is in a position with less depth might have a better chance of getting with less club time.
“With these two lads, they’ve got great competition for places in the positions they play.
“Jesse has had 10/15 minutes, I don’t know what his form is, what his fitness is really, to be able to assess him against the rest of the group. Both of those boys when I spoke to them totally understood that, they get it, they know that at the moment they’ve got to playing for their clubs and playing well and then England is a bonus on the top. “They’re both players that have done well for us and I’m sure they will be back with us.” Mason Greenwood also hasn’t been included, despite his continued fine form in the United front line, either.
The teenager hasn’t been named in a squad since he pulled out of the 33-man provisional squad ahead of Euro 2020, with Southgate previously explaining it has been agreed with Greenwood not to overload him at such a young age and that situation hasn’t changed.
If you’re playing regularly you have a better chance of us assessing your level Gareth Southgate