Gareth Southgate was asked if Raheem Sterling had upset the England boss after the Chelsea star was snubbed from the latest Three Lions squad.
Southgate has once again left Sterling out of his England squad despite the winger having started 10 of the last 11 league matches for Chelsea this term, scoring three times.
Southgate has not picked the 28-year-old for his squad since the 2022 World Cup last November and the forward now appears to be in severe danger of missing out on the European Championships next summer.
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And Sterling’s latest snub led one reporter to ask Southgate whether Sterling had upset him at any point in the past 12 months.
On whether Sterling had done "anything wrong", Southgate responded: “No. Who am I leaving out to put him in?”
The England boss continued: “Look. He wasn’t available in March or June and the team had started on a good run. We’d won in Italy for the first time in 60 years. The two performances in June were excellent so we’ve stuck with that group.
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“We’ve stuck with that group pretty much through this qualifying campaign. We’ve deliberately not made many changes because we’ve felt that’s been fair to the guys that have been in the squad.
“Performances have been excellent.
“There is huge competition for places. There’s no question Raheem is looking dangerous for his club. He looks invigorated since the start of this season and there are a few players that aren’t in this squad for whom, either they’re injured or the door is absolutely open. We’ll always be open to that.
“There are players in this squad that missed quite big chunks of time with us - Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier - so we’ve often had that type of situation and as I say, we’re really pleased with the team so there’s that continuity really.”
Topics: Football, Gareth Southgate, Raheem Sterling, Chelsea, England
Chris Byfield