England manager Gareth Southgate explains reason to drop Raheem Sterling in the European qualifiers.
Raheem Sterling has not featured in any of the last five England squads and was last featured for the national team in the Qatar World Cup.
Sterling has amassed over 82 appearances for the Three Lions and scored 20 goals for the team.
The current national squad lacks players in the advanced central midfield role with Jude Bellingham and James Maddison withdrawing in the ongoing international qualifiers.
Sterling was overlooked again despite his impressive form for Chelsea this campaign and Southgate explained why Palmer was picked ahead of the former Liverpool and Manchester City winger.
‘In terms of Cole, the key was [we] lost Maddison and Jude so we wanted somebody who could play as a 10,’ explained Southgate.
‘Of course, he’s playing wider at the moment for his club, but we hadn’t lost a winger as such, we’d lost two attacking midfield players.
‘So we’ve got a couple of players now who can fulfil that sort of role for these games.
‘Raheem was excellent at the weekend against [Manchester] City, as was Cole. But the position was the reason for [calling up] Cole really.’
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