Gareth Barry has stated that he believes Phil Jagielka can handle the maverick Mario Balotelli when England play Italy.
England kick off their World Cup finals campaign against the Italians next Saturday in Manaus, where Balotelli will be hoping to gun down England.
The striker scored 14 goals in Serie A last season for AC Milan, and was also a teammate of Barry during his time at Manchester City.
However, despite Balotelli’s flair, Barry, who spent last season at Everton on loan, believes that Jagielka has the quality to keep out Balotelli.
Barry is quoted as saying by The People: “With the strengths Jags has got, he is not going to have a problem against Mario.
“The best compliment I can give him is that, until you train every day and play with someone, you don’t really know sometimes how good a player they are going to be and Jags is certainly in that category.
“I obviously knew he was a top player, but to see him close up every day and play with him, he is really top class.”
The Everton centre back played the full 90 minutes in England’s final warm-up game before the World Cup in their 0-0 with Honduras in a weather effected fixture in Miami.
By Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1.
