Rio Ferdinand believes Gareth Southgate is denting the confidence of Chelsea defender Levi Colwill by continuing to pick Harry Maguire for England.
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Maguire has played just 23 minutes in Manchester United’s first four Premier League but started alongside Marc Guehi in England’s 1-1 draw with Ukraine on Saturday.
Southgate is under pressure to drop Maguire, who was stripped of the United captaincy by Erik ten Hag in the summer, due to his lack of playing time.
And Ferdinand believes Colwill will be among the England centre-backs who will feel that they do not have full backing from Southgate.
‘If England was on a knife-edge situation I’d get it, but they’re going to qualify, they’re the best team in their group by a mile,’ Ferdinand said on Vibe With Five when asked about Southgate’s decision to pick Maguire.
‘My biggest concern would be the confidence and the morale of other players in that position. He’s basically saying he’s got no other centre-halves he can trust at all.
‘John Stones, who is the best England centre-half at the moment, is injured. Marc Guehi comes in, he just seems to be able to step up to every level he gets asked to step up to, he steps up comfortably.
‘Maguire hasn’t played and he’s probably sitting there going, ‘thank god Gareth Southgate is manager because no one else would play me like this’.
‘I think for the other players, they must be sitting there going, ‘wow, that’s unbelievable to see someone who doesn’t play a minute of football, doesn’t start for their club, comes in and wears the England badge’.
‘It used to be like you had to perform miracles at your club, over a long period of time, to warrant a call-up, let alone a start. And that seems to have changed massively.
‘If I’m one of the other young centre-backs – [Lewis] Dunk, what he’s doing at Brighton by the way, new manager, the way they’re playing football, he’s the captain of that team, he’s probably sitting there thinking, ‘if I can’t get a game now, I might as well just throw it in’.
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‘You’ve got Levi Colwill coming through, a young player. I was that young guy once, if there’s people in my way you aren’t playing [for their club], I’m thinking, ‘wow, he obviously doesn’t rate me’.
‘Even if it’s only a smidgen of a per cent, that’s enough to knock you off your game confidence-wise, when you go to an England camp, you’re sitting there at training thinking, ‘I know he [Southgate] doesn’t rate me, because the proof is in the pudding’.
‘I can’t get my head around how you say it’s because we’re lacking a bit of experience, I can’t understand that as a young defender myself when I was one.
‘I don’t even think [Fikayo] Tomori is the biggest one, he’s just one of a cluster. There is a group of them right now, Colwill, Guehi and Tomori.
‘The biggest thing for me is Gareth doesn’t know how good they are at this level. They can do what they want at club level but once you get the opportunity to play at international level it’s a different type of football, different style, different pace. Until you’re tried and tested and given a chance to play some games you’re never going to know, so when are we going to find out how good these guys are?
‘If Stones or Maguire go lame in a tournament and these guys get thrown in at the deep end? Is that when you’re going to find out because that’s not the right way to prepare for a tournament, you want to know what these guys have got, can they perform, there are points on the line, under pressure with the Three Lions on your chest, it’s a bit different.
‘Guehi has done well but there are others there, give them the opportunity, give them a chance, I just think the message it sends to the rest of the squad can’t be right.’
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