When a Premier League legend like Rio Ferdinand speaks, anyone with a passing interest in football should be interested in what he has to say, and the former Man United ace had words for a player at another of his former clubs, West Ham United.
After the latest England squad was announced, there was one glaring omission from Gareth Southgate’s choices.
James Ward-Prowse has been one of the best players of the season for the Hammers so far, scoring and assisting in the opening four games of the 2023/24 Premier League season.
His quality is self-evident, and the former Southampton captain has been the one of the creative hubs of the Hammers midfield since signing.
Ferdinand couldn’t believe that Southgate had chose the likes of Kalvin Phillips and Harry Maguire, players that haven’t really been getting a look in at Man City and Man United respectively, ahead of him.
“If I’m people like Ward-Prowse I’d just retire,” he said on his FIVE podcast (h/t Evening Standard).
“Say, ‘listen, don’t pick me no more. There’s no point. It’s disrespectful what you’re doing’. It is to people like him, especially Ward-Prowse who’s been putting up numbers for his team on a regular basis. What more does a man have to do to get a sniff?”
It’s hard to disagree with Ferdinand, himself a former England stalwart. If Ward-Prowse isn’t able to affect Southgate’s decision now, when he’s arguably playing some of the best football of his career, when is he likely to become a Three Lions regular.
From the player’s point of view, he just needs to get his head down and work hard. There will surely then become a time when Southgate can’t ignore his claims.
It’s the same old story with England managers they have their favourites and they stick with them if a player was scoring for fun he would still be left out because he’s not part of the clan one day maybe we will have a England manager that picks a team to win rather than jobs for the clan