Ross Barkley suffers an international snub from new manager Sam Allardyce.
Sam Allardyce named his first England 23-man squad yesterday for this weekend’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Slovakia.
Ross Barkley was unused in England’s disastrous Euro 2016 campaign. The 22-year old has had a promising start to the Premier League season, scoring twice in his first four games for Everton. However, his performances haven’t done enough to convince Allardyce.
Big Sam has today insisted that the ‘door will always be open for Barkley’ and leaving the midfielder out was ‘very difficult’, as reported by the Daily Mail. Nonetheless, the news of his exclusion will no doubt be devastating for the Everton star. Barkley is in great form at the moment, this was his chance to shine in the England squad.
Barkley is a game changer who can break from deep and crucially score goals. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on the young talent. Barkley will need to bounce back and use this knock back to his advantage to prove Allardyce wrong.
A reason behind leaving Barkley out could be down to fact that the number 10 role has already been filled. Wayne Rooney is likely to play in this role, Dele Alli is also ahead of Barkley in this position.
If Barkley had been chosen, it’s very unlikely that the 22-year old would start. Not being selected will hopefully drive Barkley to work harder, Allardyce’s decision could actually work in Barkley’s favour.
There was a mixed reaction to the news that Barkley will not feature in the England squad:
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