Rio Ferdinand reacts to Leeds striker Patrick Bamford’s England omission

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Rio Ferdinand has told his YouTube channel that Patrick Bamford is the one player who should feel disrespected by Gareth Southgate after the Leeds United striker was left out of his latest England squad.

Bamford appeared to be in a fantastic position to earn his first call-up to the squad. He had scored 13 times in the top flight following Leeds’ promotion to the Premier League.

Surprisingly however, Southgate decided to not pick the 27-year-old. Instead, it was Ollie Watkins who got the nod for a maiden call-up.

The Aston Villa star has enjoyed a superb season for Dean Smith’s side. However, he has scored fewer goals than Bamford this term.

And Ferdinand suggested that he has a lot of sympathy for the Leeds star, insisting that he can feel extremely aggrieved to have been left out.

“He must be absolutely spitting feathers right now,” he told his YouTube channel. “He’s the one I reckon that’s going, ‘no, this is a disrespect’. He’s got 14 goals this year, got another goal at the weekend, he got an assist.

“Bamford’s sitting there going: ‘how many more goals have I got to score? I’m the second top-scoring Englishman in the charts right now and I’m not getting any recognition. I’m not getting noticed’.

“He scores all types of goals. He gets across people, I think he’s been fabulous this season. And the high-intensity pressing team that he plays in, there’s no slacking.”

TBR View: Southgate did himself no favours with explanation

Southgate’s explanation behind his decision perhaps made the call all the more baffling. He admitted that everything he praised Watkins for could also be said about Bamford (via Birmingham Live).

As Ferdinand notes, Bamford has since scored another goal on Friday, as well providing an assist.

Watkins absolutely deserves a chance. But if there was little to pick between the two, it is difficult to understand not selecting the one with more goals and more assists.