‘Surprised’ and ‘shocked’ England hero can’t believe Chelsea star’s snub

Speaking as a pundit for the BBC, Wayne Rooney admitted his confusion over some of the decisions made by Gareth Southgate during (or shortly before) this summer’s Euros.

The former England striker said he was surprised by the call to move on from Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell, despite a desperate lack of adjustment options at his position:

“I was very surprised and really shocked that Ben Chilwell wasn’t picked – just for the fact of having a left-footed player there,” Rooney said.

He plays for Chelsea and has played well for England in the past. He’s a good left-back – he’s also played in tournaments – so I was really surprised he wasn’t selected.

We agree that in hindsight, Southgate’s decisions at fullback look disastrous. Shaw hasn’t played a minute yet and has only just returned to practice. His replacement is right foot Kieran Trippier, who hasn’t had a great season and isn’t even playing on his natural side. England’s lack of attacking force on the left was a real source of difficulty.

Even a half-fit Chilwell (and after a strong end to the season he probably would have been fine) would have been a much better option for England than an out-of-position and out-of-form Trippier.

Ultimately, Chilwell had terrible luck with injuries – much like the story of his Chelsea career. After having to sit behind Shaw on the bench at Euro 2020, Chilwell was injured for the 2022 World Cup, then missed too much of this season to be considered by Southgate – although that’s coming out pretty clearly as a mistake at this point, but a situation we can understand given the limitations of a small team in these competitions.