Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand, has told James Ward-Prowse to retire from international football.
Ferdinand said he himself would retire from the national team if he was continually overlooked by England manager Gareth Southgate just like Ward-Prowse and others have been.
Southgate has released the list of players for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine and friendly with Scotland.
He included Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips, two players who have not played for respective club sides this season.
Southgate picked the duo ahead of West Ham duo Ward-Prowse and Jarrod Bowen.
“I’ve never known a manager to pick players that are consistently not playing,” Ferdinand fumed on the FIVE podcast.
“I get it if a player hasn’t played for five, six or 10 games maybe. But Phillips and Maguire don’t kick the ball. They don’t play, they do warm-ups and they’re getting in England squads. It amazes me.
“Southgate comes out and says we haven’t got defenders. Go and use a young one man! Go and use someone young or inexperienced who you’re thinking about. You know what Maguire does.
“It’s a reward for performances playing for England. It’s the best players that are currently playing in their teams. Maguire doesn’t kick a ball. He comes on for cameos here and there.
“Kalvin with respect isn’t anywhere near the Man City team. He won a treble last year and well done to him but he ain’t kicked a ball. These men ain’t playing football and they’re still getting in a team based off of work that they did two, three years ago.
“They’ll be other young midfielders or [someone like] James Ward-Prowse that are thinking, “Wow, what’s happening here? How come I’m not looking?”. It’s a kick in the teeth.”
On the exclusion of Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling, he added, “If I was Sterling, I’d be very disappointed bearing in mind what he’s done for this England team when he’s been in or around it.”
