Speaking on the ITV Football Show Podcast, Gary Neville has delivered a frank verdict on Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips.
England are through the group stages, and while many Three Lions supporters are dreaming of winning the tournament, Neville isn’t as optimistic about England’s chances.
Indeed, Neville believes that England’s midfield could be their downfall, stating that Rice and Phillips aren’t good enough to compete with Europe’s elite.
What’s been said?
Neville has been very straightforward in his verdict of Rice and Phillips claiming that they’re not as good as Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante or Adrien Rabiot.
“I’m always careful of talking our players down, because actually we’ve got some really good players and we have fantastic talent,” Neville said.
“But you do look at that French team and see Benzema, Griezmann and Mbappe up front, and you look at the midfield of Kante, Pogba and Rabiot and you think are we as good as them? Are Rice and Phillips as good as Pogba, Kante and Rabiot, they’re not’ let’s be realistic.”
He’s right
England fans may disagree, but Neville isn’t wrong with his verdict.
Rice and Phillips are very good players, don’t get us wrong, but the reality is that they play for Leeds and West Ham, two teams that aren’t amongst Europe’s elite.
Meanwhile, in Kante, Pogba and Rabiot you have star players from Chelsea, Manchester United and Juventus, and as good as Leeds and West Ham have been over the past 12 months, there’s no competition there.
If England play France at the Euros, that midfield battle will be very difficult for the Three Lions to win.
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