Rio Ferdinand stated on FIVE that he believes Chelsea full-back Reece James is currently 'ahead' of Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold. James started for England in their 1-0 defeat to Italy on Friday evening, with Alexander-Arnold left on the bench.
Ferdinand said: "If I'm a winger, I look at who I don't want to play against more out of the two of them and it would be Reece James."
"I think physically Reece James can match people defensively and going forward is ridiculous. Trent Alexander-Arnold's passing I would say arguably is better over varied distances but I think Reece will score more goals. He's in there so much."
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Gareth Southgate appears to agree with Ferdinand, with the Chelsea man looking as though he has the edge on Alexander-Arnold heading into the Qatar World Cup in November. However, James failed to impress against Italy as England were relegated from their Nations League group.
Given his performances for Liverpool over the last few years, there is a clamour from some corners for Alexander-Arnold to start over James. Despite his successes with the Reds, Alexander-Arnold has just 17 England caps across a four-year period, whereas James has 13 despite only making his Three Lions debut in 2020.
Somebody who is firmly in the Alexander-Arnold camp is Gary Lineker. The former England striker took to Twitter to vent his frustration that Southgate's 'most creative' player was sat on the bench, while Chelsea's James was starting over him.
Lineker tweeted: "A gentle reminder that England’s most creative midfielder, @Madders10 [James Maddison] was not in the squad of 28. And England’s most creative footballer, @TrentAA sat on the bench getting splinters in his a***."
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