Manchester United and English national team Captain Wayne Rooney has been left out of England’s squad to face Scotland and France next month.
Southgate said: “We’ve a lot of players playing exceptionally well in the area of the pitch that Wayne plays.”
“I said last time [in March] that he was a bit short of matches – he’s had some matches now but we’ve got players that have done really, really well for us in Adam Lallana and Dele Alli,” added Southgate.
“We’ve got Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane coming back and Jermain Defoe who did really well for us last time, while Jamie Vardy’s been in excellent form in the second half of the season.
“I can’t dress it up any other way. Other players are in really good form and deserve to keep their place.”
25 players have been called up for the #ThreeLions‘ games against Scotland and France next month.
Read more: https://t.co/jnOOHdYjj1 pic.twitter.com/bp6zpRNRaf
— England (@England) 25 May 2017
Full squad: Jack Butland, Fraser Forster, Joe Hart, Tom Heaton; Ryan Bertrand, Gary Cahill, Nathaniel Clyne, Aaron Cresswell, Ben Gibson, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker; Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Adam Lallana, Jesse Lingard, Jake Livermore, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Raheem Sterling; Jermain Defoe, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Jamie Vardy
Rooney has only started 15 league games for Manchester United this season. The door is not closed on an international return for the forward, who had hoped to end his Three Lions career by leading his country in Russia next summer, but Southgate has placed him firmly behind Marcus Rashford, Jermain Defoe, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy in the pecking order.
