“It took me six years, I’m not bitter about it… I’m a little bit bitter about it.”
Ian Wright has been discussing what it takes to get a call-up to the current England squad, and it’s difficult to dispute his view. On Monday, England manager Gareth Southgate called-up Harry Winks for the first time, after Fabian Delph and Phil Jones withdrew from the squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and Lithuania.
The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder is a talented player, and rated highly by Mauricio Pochettino. However, he has made only one start this season in the Premier League. Winks is about to be part of an England squad which qualifies for the World Cup, but the 21-year-old is by no-means a regular at his club.
Everyone knows nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, but it really wasn’t like that back in the day, as Wright’s career shows.
The former striker was a prolific scorer for Crystal Palace and Arsenal, but didn’t make his England debut until he was 27. Wright had to compete with players such as Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen for a place in the England squad. He ended up making 33 appearances for his country, and scored nine goals, but never made it to a major tournament.
During the 2015/16 season, only 31 percent of Premier League starters were qualified to play for England, so Southgate doesn’t have as many options to choose from as his predecessors in the role.
The England manager didn’t hide this fact when announcing his recent squad, saying:
“It’s incredible. If you were to say, ‘Am I entirely happy with the squad I’ve named?’ then no, because we’ve got too many good players missing with injury. And the consequence of that, you could well argue, is that there are one or two in the squad who haven’t necessarily warranted it on their performances.”
Wright reckons that all an English player now has to do to be in contention for a place in the England squad is feature in a handful of games in the top flight. The former Arsenal striker also took issue with Southgate’s comments about some players not warranting a place in the squad on recent performances.
You can watch him here:
"You just need to play a couple of #PL games about it and you're in – not that I'm bitter about it!"@IanWright0 on the England squad 🤣 pic.twitter.com/dZvapzy8MQ
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) October 2, 2017
It’s difficult to argue with Wright’s view on the England team, but his suggestion that Sean Dyche could replace Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager might split opinion.
Wright reckons the Burnley boss has what it takes to manage the Gunners, but doubts he’ll be given the chance to. You can watch Wright here:
Sean Dyche – good enough for #Arsenal?
Ian Wright thinks so… pic.twitter.com/DbgMAY4flO
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) October 3, 2017
