Jadon Sancho is playing ‘better than ever’ at and should’ve been picked for England ahead of Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, according to Paul Merson.
Sancho endured a slow start to his career at Old Trafford following his £73million move from Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
But the winger has turned things around recently and is recreating the type of form he showed in the Bundesliga.
The 22-year-old was, however, left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for England’s upcoming friendlies against Switzerland and Ivory Coast, and legend Merson thinks that was a mistake.
‘Gareth Southgate should have picked instead of Raheem Sterling in his England squad,’ Merson told the .
‘Surely you’re better off having Sancho in the squad than Sterling? We know what Sterling can do. We know he’s going to the . Sterling always performs for England. Leave him out, he’s got big games coming up for . And put Sancho in.
‘Southgate turned round this week and said he hasn’t picked Kyle Walker because he knows what Kyle Walker can do. But don’t we know what Sterling can do? Or ? Why not leave a few regulars out, not just one? Those players all have massive matches for their clubs coming up.
‘Why are you looking at players with 30 or 40 caps who are shoo-ins for the squad? If I was Pep Guardiola or Thomas Tuchel I’d be disappointed. I think Sancho is playing better than ever at Manchester United. He’s playing a lot better than he was when he got in the England squad before.
‘I can’t work out why he’s not in it this time. Southgate is giving out mixed messages otherwise. When Sancho got called up against Andorra, I don’t personally think he deserved it because he wasn’t playing well enough.
‘But he’s turned the corner now and looks a different player. Shouldn’t he be rewarded? I was very surprised he wasn’t in it this time. I think he’s started doing the simple things properly, and that’s helped. But it’s hard for him because the expectations were so high.’
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