England manager Gareth Southgate has explained his decision not to call up in form Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge to his latest Three Lions squad.
Southgate opted to go for youth, including the likes of Jadon Sancho, Mason Mount and James Maddison, rather than reward Sturridge’s fine form with an international recall.
And the England boss has explained his decision: “It is good to see Daniel back playing, he missed all the end of last season,” he said, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo. “He’s not had a lot of football back in, so again we wanted to look at younger players in this area of the pitch at the time.
“But I wanted to look at the likes of Sancho and Maddison, slightly different positions I know, but we also talked about giving Marcus Rashford playing time and he came out of that international spell with a lot more confidence. It’s good to see Daniel playing and he just has to keep doing what he’s doing.”
OPINION
It appears that this particular England squad came just a bit too early for Sturridge, who is on a reported £120,000-per-week [Source: Spotrac]. He still hasn’t had enough football for Southgate’s liking, which is a fair point. For all his explosiveness this campaign, Sturridge hasn’t played a lot of football. He’s certainly not been starting many matches for Liverpool. Perhaps as the season goes on he might get another chance with England, but at the moment Sturridge seemingly hasn’t done enough to warrant his inclusion. The Three Lions boss has been vocal about wanting to cultivate a youth movement with the national team, so it’s not surprising to see the likes of Sancho and Marcus Rashford get in the squad ahead of Sturridge. Southgate did offer the former Chelsea man some hope, though, stating that he simply needs to keep doing what he’s doing. If he gets a bit more regular football and continues his good form, there’s no doubt that he’ll be in the next England squad.
