“Southgate is right to snub Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish may be in the squad but may not be in the England starting-Liverpool legend claims Southgate right to snub Raheem Sterling
A former Liverpool player says Southgate was right to turn down Raheem Sterling.
A former Liverpool player says Southgate was right to turn down Raheem Sterling.
John Barnes, who used to play for Liverpool, agreed with Gareth Southgate’s choice to leave Raheem Sterling out of recent England teams.
Sterling has not played in an England game since the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Since then, Southgate has not picked him to play.
But the 28-year-old has been playing great for Chelsea since the beginning of the 2023–24 season. He has scored five goals and set up two others in that time.
The last time Sterling scored for Chelsea was in their 4–4 draw with Manchester City on Sunday. He put the Blues ahead in the first half after Thiago Silva’s powerful header had cancelled out Erling Haaland’s penalty kick.
The winger was great throughout the game, as he has been all season, but Southgate didn’t think the same thing and didn’t invite the former Man City player to his England team for their future games against Malta and North Macedonia.
Some people have said that Southgate made a bad choice, but Barnes defended the England boss to bonuscodebets.co.uk and said that Sterling’s rejection wasn’t a big deal.
He said, “Raheem has played well for Chelsea in their last two or three games. Since then, Chelsea hasn’t been doing too well.”
“People look at his last two or three games and say he should be called up, but Gareth Southgate has a lot of talented players to choose from, so it’s a tough spot to be in.”
“Raheem will always be in my England team, but I don’t think it’s a problem that he’s not in the team.” Recently, Raheem has played well enough to be in the squad, but the squad was chosen before the City game, so he will be back in the squad at some time.
Barnes also said, “Fans will always have an opinion on who should be on the team and who shouldn’t be.” I trust what Gareth does and what he says. His team will play the way he wants them to.
“He might think that Raheem’s skills are different from those of Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford.” In a way, Jack hasn’t been playing all the time, like Harry Maguire at [Manchester] United.
“Jack might be in the squad, but he might not start for England, so he’s an option off the bench.” While Raheem can’t be on the bench if he’s in the team. He would be a good addition to the team.
