Murphy gets shirty over U17 picture

FORMER England international Danny Murphy has criticised the victorious Under-17 squad for being pictured with their shirts on back to front.

Steve Cooper’s Young Lions roared to World Cup glory on Saturday as they came from 2-0 down to beat Spain 5-2 in the final.

They celebrated with the trophy by turning their shirts around to show their names, rather than the badge.

Murphy, who won nine England caps and played for clubs including Liverpool and Tottenham, says the action showcases exactly what is wrong with the modern game.

“There’s no England badge in the picture of them winning the World Cup – for me, that’s wrong,” Murphy, 40, said on talkSPORT.

“They’ve all turned their shirts around because they want their names across their chests, so everybody across the world can see who they are.

“They’re all saying, ‘I’m a good young player coming through, look at me’, but that in itself is what is wrong with society. In effect, they’re thinking about fame as well as being a footballer and I think it creates a big debate here.

“But the England badge not being in that picture says a lot.

“The fact they want their names to be on the front of their shirts and think about getting their name out there so people know who they are - they are not wrong, but it’s what is wrong at the moment.”

Dejan Lovren has branded death threats made against his family as “disgusting”.

The Liverpool and Croatia defender – in the news of late after questionable performances – shared the threat on his Instagram story.

Lovren posted a direct message he had received from a user which read “I’m gonna murder ur family u Croatian p **** ”.

The 28-year-old captioned it with “horrible what kind of people we have” before adding in a second image: “I don’t mind when people talk s*** about me, it says more about them!

“But I cannot ignore when my family is threatened. I just can’t and won’t accept that. Disgusting.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp last week defended his player after substituting him just 31 minutes into a 4-1 loss at Tottenham. The performance drew heavy criticism and Klopp said: “I don’t wish one of you to have your mistakes discussed in public.