Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey said that it was hard to watch England at the World Cup after being omitted from the squad. Shelvey last played for England in a friendly against France in November, 2015.
Shelvey had a fine 2017-18 season with Newcastle United. In fact, there were calls for him to be named in Gareth Southgate’s squad. However, he was not in the squad that came 4th in Russia.
The 26-year old said he thought that he would have ‘brought something to the team’. Shelvey said, “It’s hard to sit there and watch because you want your country to do well but you want to be there at the same time. But you’ve just got to get behind them and support them.”
Jonjo Shelvey added, “I could have brought something to the team. But I’m not going to sit here and criticise the people that played because they did fantastically well. Gareth Southgate has the right to pick whoever he wants. You get people saying that England could have done with that final ball but there’s nothing you can change, you have to get on with it and hopefully be selected in the future.”
Jonjo Shelvey also mentioned that Gareth Southgate did not tell him anything regarding his omission from the World Cup squad. He said, “I didn’t hear anything in the summer from Gareth Southgate, no call when the squad came out. I was on the golf course in Portugal and I had a missed call from a private number. I don’t know if it was him. The squad got announced and that was it.”
The midfielder believes that he can be called up to the national team in the future. He said, “That’s my goal, there is nothing better playing for your country at Wembley in front of all of those people with your family there. It gives you goosebumps. But it’s something I’ve got to work towards this year, keep my head down and try my hardest to get there.
My first goal this season is to cement my place in the Newcastle team. My second goal is to do as well as we can, and obviously the third is to try and break into the England team.”
