Nedum Onuoha has brushed off claims that a player like Leeds United’s, Kalvin Phillips, is ‘too nice’, as he told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.
After England were beaten by Italy in the final of Euro 2020, it was suggested to Gareth Southgate that his players were possibly ‘too nice’ during the tournament.
Leeds United’s academy product was a key member of the team that reached the final, as he started every game alongside Declan Rice in the middle of the park.
But former Premier League centre-back, Onuoha, suggested that someone like Phillips isn’t nice on the field because he would ‘kick the nonsense out of me’.
“When some questions get asked, with all due respect with someone in the media, what do they expect someone to say?” asked Onuoha.
“If they asked me ‘are they too nice?’. I would ask ‘what do you mean by nice? Like, explain what you are trying to get out from me’.
“You look at that team and they are so committed. I know if I am on a football pitch then I don’t want Kalvin Phillips anywhere me because he’s going to kick the nonsense out of me.
“Is he nice? Is that the definition of nice? If I am a striker I don’t think I want Harry Maguire or John Stones next to me all the time.”
The small margins in sport are what hurt most, and in this case, the palm of Gianluigi Donnarumma.
If those last few kicks had gone England’s way then many people would have been talking about Gareth Southgate being knighted.
It may have ended in a heartbreaking fashion for these England players, but people like Jordan Pickford, Rice, Raheem Sterling, Luke Shaw, Phillips and Harry Maguire, to name a few, leave with their heads held high.
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