Rio Ferdinand claims Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho has every right to feel "disgruntled" after missing out on a spot in Gareth Southgate's squad for England's upcoming Nations League encounters.
Three Lions manager Southgate unveiled his final squad before the World Cup in Qatar earlier this week, with no place for Sancho. England take on Italy on Friday 23 September and Germany three days later as players stake their claims to board the plane to the Middle East this winter.
Sancho's snub came despite his Old Trafford teammates Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw being called up for international duty. The two defenders find themselves outside of Erik ten Hag's first-choice United XI, whereas Sancho has scored three goals in all competitions during a promising start to the season.
Early on in his tenure as England boss, Southgate vowed he would pick players on form rather than reputation, yet his latest squad suggests he has veered away from this principle. Ferdinand believes this gives Sancho cause to feel aggrieved, even though he agrees with the vast majority of the selections in the squad.
"There's a lot of defenders. I think the only real surprise in there is probably the amount of players that he's got that aren't playing regular football at their clubs," the Red Devils legend told BT Sport of Southgate's latest England squad. "Given the kind of stance that Gareth had when he got the job in terms of players playing minutes and picking players on form.
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"Jadon Sancho will be one player who will probably look at that squad and think, 'I've done what's expected of me as a winger in terms of output - numbers-wise this season - and I'm doing better in terms of numbers than other players, and I'm still not getting a look-in'. He could probably feel disgruntled. But I think that squad is a lot of what we would expect."
Sancho, for his part, remains determined to feature at the World Cup and has pledged he will keep up the hard work as he bids to represent his country at the tournament. "That [the World Cup] is one of the targets, but it is unfortunate that I didn't get the call-up," Sancho told MUTV, per the Manchester Evening News. "But I have to keep focusing on myself and keep working hard, week in and week out. So that is what I am going to do."
Sancho's return of three goals this season means he is on the way to quickly matching and surpassing his tally of five from last season. The London native struggled following his £72million arrival from Borussia Dortmund but finally appears to be replicating his best form.
