Martinez Surprised with Gareth Barry's not in Squad

Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that he is extremely surprised by the fact that midfielder Gareth Barry has not been called up for the England national team. The former Aston Villa and Manchester City midfielder made the move to Goodison Park permanent in the summer. He has been in fine form for the Merseyside club, but even after the retirement of established internationals like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, he has not been included in the recent squad for the Euro 2016 qualifiers. It is thought that England boss Roy Hodgson favours a more youthful squad.

This was his approach at the World Cup 2014 with only a handful of players above the age of 30 being included in the squad. This does not appear to have changed especially going forward into the Euro 2016. Barry is definitely entering into the last few years of his football at 33 years of age. It is extremely unlikely that he will be around the international scene if England qualified for Euro 2016. Hence, it makes a lot of sense to concentrate on young players like Jack Wilshere, who played in the defensive midfield role in the recent matches. Barry is currently on the sidelines after injuring his ligaments.

“He is the best defensive midfielder in the league, never mind in English football.Teams have invested massive amounts of money into bringing in the best foreign players to play in that position – Fernando and Fernandinho at Man City – but you go through all the players in that position and Gareth has been the most consistent.He has been overlooked for England – I don’t know the reason behind it but it allows him, at 33, to concentrate on being able to play every game for us,” said Martinez. Everton are undefeated in the last four league outings.