Ian Wright heaped praise on Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey and claimed the 26-year-old was unlucky to miss out on Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the World Cup.
The former Arsenal forward shared that he thought Shelvey’s form just came a little too late and that he wasn’t helped by misleading stats when it came to be considered for his nation.
Wright then went to rave about the midfielder, who earns £90,000-a-week as reported by The Sun, and highlighted Shelvey’s passing ability in the process.
“Shelvey can feel a bit unlucky,” wrote Wright in a column for The Sun.
“His good form came too late but he’s not afraid to pass the ball into difficult areas, you get silly stats which say he gives the ball away more than some of the others but that’s rubbish.
“He tries to hit the pass that is going to hurt the opposition and unfortunately he is punished for trying to do that if it gets cut out.”
OPINION
Wright is absolute spot-on with his assessment that Shelvey should feel unlucky about not going to the World Cup in Russia. The 26-year-old dazzled for the Magpies this season, especially since the turn of the year, and should really have been considered. Shelvey featured 33 times for Rafa Benitez’s side this season and would have been raring to go for his nation in the summer, after having no injury ridden spells. The creative midfielder has only six England caps to his name and hasn’t added to them in the last three years, but his displays clearly should have seen him earn more this summer. While the midfielder is no doubt flattered that a lot of pundits are questioning the fact that Southgate snubbed him, he would have preferred to be on the plane to Russia. Hopefully it won’t be too long before Shelvey gets back involved with the England set-up, even if has to painfully sit and watch the World Cup at home this summer, as his ability will clearly keep allowing him to deliver fantastic performances for the Magpies over the new few seasons.
