Gareth Southgate has provided a rather bizarre explanation as to why Fikayo Tomori was snubbed from England’s squad for the World Cup in Qatar.
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Tomori was in the England squad for their Nations League games in September but was forced to watch the game against Italy at his home stadium the San Siro from the bench, and then exited the squad before their second game.
The feeling is that the Canada-born defender has never been given a fair shot by Southgate who continues to pick players who are either based in the Premier League or who have questionable form, with the likes of Harry Maguire, Conor Coady and Eric Dier all chosen ahead.
Southgate was asked about the decision to pick the centre-backs that he has and to not go for Tomori or even Roma’s Chris Smalling, both of whom went to Italy in search of more opportunities and certainly took them.
“We’ve picked our more experienced defenders,” Southgate said (via FI).
“The younger ones have good qualities, but we don’t think they’ve quite done enough to push the experienced ones out.
“Maguire? He is one of our best central defenders, even though we have many players who are playing at the level required to be part of the English national team.”
