Micah Richards makes ‘frustration’ claim over West Ham United midfielder James Ward-Prowse
Michah Richards says his “frustration” with Gareth Southgate lies in the England manager’s reluctance to select West Ham midfielder James Ward-Prowse.
The 28-year-old has not been named in Southgate’s two squads this season, despite his superb form since arriving from Southampton during the summer window.
Ward-Prowse has six assists and two goals in nine appearances for the Hammers, yet the likes of Kalvin Phillips, Jordan Henderson and Conor Gallagher have instead been selected for England.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast [16 October, 21m 48s], Richards said: “Look at someone like Ward-Prowse. The start he has had to the season at West Ham.
“We knew how good he was at Southampton, in a struggling side, now he’s in a team which is performing a lot better and he still can’t get a sniff.
“So that’s where the frustration comes from, from a football point of view.
“That’s where I’m like ‘okay, Southgate has still got his favourites’. But he’s the manager, he can do what he wants.”
Little choice
Richards is not alone in feeling frustrated by Southgate’s decision to not call up Ward-Prowse, particularly for this month’s fixtures with Australia and Italy.
Indeed, it was the biggest talking point to come out of the squad announcement, with seemingly every pundit now having had their say on the matter.
Even away from his creativity from open play, JWP’s set-pieces alone provide England with something different in their ranks.
From a purely selfish point of view, at least the £30million midfielder has had a couple of weeks to rest up ready to go again, starting with a trip to Aston Villa on Sunday (22 October).
West Ham have seven games between this coming weekend and the next international break in a month’s time, so Ward-Prowse will just be hoping to do enough to earn a call from Southgate for those November matches.
If he continues the form he has showed over the past couple of months, Southgate will surely have little choice.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers have reportedly been told to pay just £2m more to land one of their summer targets in the January window.