England 'could have won' Euro U21 Championship, insists Ray Wilkins
Thursday 25 June 2015 12:19, UK
Ray Wilkins believes England’s U21 team would have been crowned European champions had manager Gareth Southgate been allowed to select his strongest squad.
England were knocked out of the tournament in the Czech Republic on Wednesday after going down 3-1 to Italy, a defeat which followed an opening-day loss to Portugal.
Six full England internationals - Raheem Sterling, Ross Barkley, Jack Wilshere, Luke Shaw, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Phil Jones - were among the absentees as Southgate’s squad collected just three points from their three games, courtesy of a 1-0 win over Sweden.
Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ, the former England skipper said: “If Gareth had picked the squad he wanted to pick, we’d have won this tournament. With those players we would have beaten Italy last night and beaten the rest of them as well.”
And the 58-year-old, who won 84 caps and represented his country at two World Cup finals, refuses to accept 'burn-out' would have been an issue with those left behind.
“This really bugs me when people say ‘they’ll suffer burn-out by Christmas," he said. “It is no different to those senior players at Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham, Liverpool, who then go off to the World Cup finals in the summer.
“A lot of these younger men don’t play for their clubs week-in, week-out any way. They sit on the bench a lot. Wilshere didn’t play too many games last season and he often came on as a substitute.”
Asked why he thought some players were not chosen for the prestigious tournament, he added: “The clubs have far too much say in what happens. It they don’t play at this level, they won’t know what it’s like to play in a summer tournament.
“I feel sorry for Gareth. If you’re selected for the national team you go. The Italians had eight players on Thursday who play regularly in Serie A.”
