England manager Gareth Southgate has handed Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain an international lifeline after his Nations League snub.
The 25-year-old was nowhere to be seen as the Three Lions boss announced his squad this week for the Nations League clash with the Netherlands.
Southgate explained his decision to ignore ‘The Ox’: “I think when you are recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, you need a period of time to get into more starts, more 90 minutes under his belt and it’s an important thing for him that he’s managed to get some minutes at Liverpool,” he said, as per the Evening Standard.
“But I think a good pre-season… because what’s happened with him, a couple of minor hamstring injuries, is classic when you’ve been out with a long-term injury. We shouldn’t be risking him in our games at this stage of his recovery from a serious injury. But he’s very much in our thoughts for next season.”
OPINION
Southgate is probably taking the right approach, here. In years past, perhaps, the England boss would have to have called someone like Oxlade-Chamberlain up even if they were coming off a big injury, due to the dearth of resources available. However, there is a talent-rich pool of English players available to Southgate now and he has plenty of options to choose from. Although he would have liked to have had a fully-fit Oxlade-Chamberlain, he doesn’t necessarily need him. It’s just too early to throw him into a competitive atmosphere like the Nations League after the major injury he’s still only just coming back from. It will surely be much better for him to have the pre season to work himself back to full fitness before attacking next season with the Reds. However, he’ll be glad to hear that he’s still in the manager’s thoughts. If he’d been fit he would almost certainly have gone to the World Cup in Russia last year and now he’s missed out on this as well. However, there will surely be many big tournaments in his future.
