Gareth Southgate has cast serious doubts on Raheem Sterling's England future.
Southgate has left Sterling out of his latest Three Lions squad for the second time in a row ahead of the upcoming games against Australia and Italy. And he has told the Chelsea ace he is no longer guaranteed to be involved – because the competition for places is much stronger.
Sterling might have won 82 caps and scored 20 goals for his country. But Southgate insists this no longer counts for much, due to how much talent is at his disposal.
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Southgate said: "The wide players we picked, we're really happy with. [Marcus] Rashford, [Phil] Foden,[Bukayo] Saka and Jack Grealish have all been consistently good for us. In the end, we've got brilliant competition for places in several areas of the pitch. So there is a battle now, without a doubt.
"For a long period of time Raheem was the one that was scoring goals for us and his club. We now have goals from Saka, Foden, Rashford. Rashford's always been a scorer with us. Grealish is a different type of wide player, so now we're getting goals form Jude [Bellingham].
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"We're not just reliant on Harry Kane. For a long time it was Harry and Raheem that were knocking up the goals. But there's a different competition in place."
Despite picking nine forwards, Southgate has preferred Jarrod Bowen over Sterling. Ollie Watkins has also been recalled, along with John Stones and Trent Alexander-Arnold following injuries.
Manchester United outcast Harry Maguire has also been included, while Southgate has also picked Bukayo Saka, despite their being concerns about the fitness of the Arsenal sensation. Southgate, meanwhile, has questioned the wisdom of FIFA's proposal to stage a World Cup in 2030 over three different continents.
He added: "My big thing is I don't quite get the integrity of the competition.
"My understanding is three matches are played in South America, then those teams have to travel across the globe, change timezone again, and pick up the competition with home advantage in one part of the group and not another part. So yeah, what I've seen it I'm not a fan."
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