Gareth Southgate reveals why Cole Palmer was called up to England squad ahead of his Chelsea teammate
England manager Gareth Southgate explained his decision to call up Cole Palmer over Raheem Sterling in the Three Lions' latest national team squad.
Palmer, who got his maiden call up for England last week, has been in fine form for Chelsea and raced ahead of his club teammate Sterling to book a spot in the national team for this international break.
Explaining the decision to pick young Palmer over the experienced Sterling, Southgate said:
"In terms of Cole, the key was [we] lost Maddison and Jude so we wanted somebody who could play as a 10. Of course, he’s playing wider at the moment for his club, but we hadn’t lost a winger as such, we’d lost two attacking midfield players."
The Three Lions head coach added:
"So we’ve got a couple of players now who can fulfil that sort of role for these games. Raheem was excellent at the weekend against [Manchester] City, as was Cole. But the position was the reason for [calling up] Cole really."
Palmer has registered four goals and four assists in 11 games this season for the Blues. He is one of the key attacking players, linking up the transition once Chelsea win the ball.
As for Sterling, the experienced attacker has registered five goals and two assists in 14 games for Chelsea. He last played for England in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and has been repeatedly overlooked by Gareth Southgate since then.
Simon Jordan supports Southgate's decision to omit Raheem Sterling from the England squad
Southgate's decision to not pursue with Sterling has drawn in criticism from several fans. However, former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan is of the opinion that the former Manchester City and Livepool attacker is 'bang average' and supports the English manager's decision to leave the player out of the Three Lions squad.
He wrote (in his column for Daily Mail):
"Curiously, and for reasons that quite frankly evade me, eyebrows have been raised over Raheem Sterling’s continued omission from the England squad. But why? He’s been pretty bang average for Chelsea. OK, he’s had a few decent games in recent weeks but I haven’t seen a series of hugely impressive performances from him that mean he demands inclusion."
England will play Malta and North Macedonia in their current international break and have already qualified for Euro 2024.