Gareth Southgate explains why three Manchester United players failed to make England squad

England manager, Gareth Southgate, has insisted that the omission of Jadon Sancho from the latest England squad to face Albania and San Marino is due to a lack of playing time at Manchester United.

Sancho finally secured a dream move to Old Trafford during the summer, but he’s struggled to impress Ole Gunnar Solskjaer since then, making a combined appearance of 85 minutes in our last five games.

Meanwhile Mason Greenwood has also been overlooked in the list, but Southgate claims its because the forward is on a ‘different path’.

Speaking recently to the media about the players, he said of Greenwood’s situation, “We haven’t discussed it this month. We met with him this month and totally understand where he is.

“We said last month with young players their pathway and load is different.

“He’s at a massive football club with massive expectation. He recognises that is part of making it at international football.

“We want to get it right with young players. This happens with most players at this age. It’s very familiar path for us in youth development.”

On Sancho and Jesse Lingard, who was also snubbed, Southgate added, “With Jesse and Jadon, they just aren’t playing a lot of football compared to others in their positions.

“If you’re playing regularly for your club, you’ve got a much better chance of us assessing how you’re playing compared to the group.

“With these two lads, they’ve got great competition for places in the position they play.

“Both of them totally understand that, they know they’ve got to get playing for their clubs, and playing well. And then England is a bonus on the top. They have done well for us, I’m sure they will be back with us.”

Greenwood’s snub is quite shocking, seeing as he’s done well, and scored four in nine games, but the coach knows best, and hopefully, we’ll see him return to the team soon.