Sol blasts Rio snub

Former England defender Sol Campbell believes Rio Ferdinand should have had the chance to turn England down and says he never bought the argument that the Manchester United player was left out of the original squad for footballing reasons.

Campbell said “What we can say for sure is that this entire situation goes back to what did or did not happen between John Terry and Anton Ferdinand last season. That is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn and I for one never bought the argument that Rio had been left out of the original squad for ‘footballing reasons’.”

The ex-Arsenal player admitted manager Roy Hodgson, was put in “a difficult situation” but said: “We don’t know what pressures he may have been under, but his reasons for picking who he did simply made no sense.”

Indeed, the selection of Phil Jones over Ferdinand was an odd one, he affirmed. “The situation is nuts and will look even more so should England collect any further injuries in defence,” blasted Campbell.

Campbell told The Guardian: “The FA now find themselves between a rock and a hard place and the only way they can truly resolve the situation is to come out and admit they’ve made a mistake. But their continued silence suggests that they do not want to do anything about this, they do not want to be humble and say ‘sorry, we messed up’.”