Rio Ferdinand Questions Gareth Southgate's Mentality After Bizarre Jadon Sancho Comments

Rio Ferdinand has questioned England manager Gareth Southgate's mentality following his reason for not starting Jadon Sancho at Euro 2020.

Borussia Dortmund winger Sancho is yet to play for his country at this summer's tournament and was out of the squad completely vs Croatia.

Southgate pointed to the 21-year-old's lack of international experience despite his phenomenal domestic campaign in Germany.

Speaking on his FIVE YouTube channel, Ferdinand broke down exactly why Sancho needs to be playing games.

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"There's inexperienced players that haven't been to tournaments, they're everywhere," he begun per the Mirror.

"You go on what they've done at their club and the last three years, in terms of output, Sancho has been the second best player in terms of goal involvement over the last three years - and he's done it at Dortmund.

"So to think that you're talking about experience... he's played more games than [Phil] Foden at the top level as well as [Mason] Mount and [Jude] Bellingham."

Sancho scored 16 goals and registered 20 assists last season as he helped Dortmund to DFB-Pokal glory.

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England have already qualified for the knockout stages of Euro 2020 and face the Czech Republic on Tuesday evening, with top spot in Group D up for grabs.

Ferdinand believes now is the time for Sancho to establish himself as a regular starter, urging Southgate to be brave.

The former Manchester United defender continued: "I just feel that sometimes as a manager you've got to be brave. You've got to be brave and don't err on the side of caution.

"In Southgate's own mind he's going to have to be brave because I think naturally he's a more conservative person.

"In his own mind he'll think he's being brave when we're sitting here going, 'Just play him!', because we've seen him play at the top level.

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"But if you're sitting there as Gareth Southgate, you've got to go against your natural instinct."

England will be without Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell at Wembley with the duo self-isolating.

The Chelsea stars were in close contact with Scotland midfielder and club teammate Billy Gilmour, who has since tested positive for coronavirus, on Friday.

Mount and Chilwell have tested negative but must isolate until Monday.

Do you think Jadon Sancho should regularly be starting for England?

Topics: Football, Euro 2020, England, Rio Ferdinand, Jadon Sancho, Gareth Southgate

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

@DanMarland_