Ex-England international slams ‘selfish’ Henderson over Euros decision
Former Premier League striker Gabby Agbonlahor thinks Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson should’ve withdrawn himself from the England squad.
Gareth Southgate named his final 26-man squad early on Tuesday evening with Henderson and Harry Maguire making the cut, despite ongoing injury troubles.
Liverpool skipper Henderson has not played since February after undergoing groin surgery.
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Nations can make changes to their squads between now and the start of the tournament on June 11 but only if new injuries occur – meaning Henderson cannot be replaced if he fails to recover from his current setback.
Henderson missed England’s 1-0 friendly victory over Austria on Wednesday night and Agbonlahor thinks it was “selfish” for the Liverpool midfielder to remain in the squad.
“The thing that is really winding me up is the Henderson thing,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT.
“I think he is being selfish. If you look at it, the squad has been announced and he told Southgate this morning (Wednesday) that he is not fit today.
“They said the scans have come back and they’re fine, and he knows himself that there is a niggle he is feeling.”
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Agbonlahor, who has three caps for England, added: “The tournament starts in 10 days, you are playing against Croatia, playing against a good good team. You need to be at it, you need a training session before the game, you need some games in you.
“Even for Henderson, he should just be honest with the manager now and say ‘you know what I am struggling here, I’m a leader and a captain in myself, I’ll do the right thing for the squad, I’m not fit and it might reoccur if I do get better for the second game’.”
After the Austria match, England boss Southgate provided an update on Henderson’s injury, he said: “With Jordan, we had hoped to involve him today. That was the original plan. This morning he wasn’t so happy with how he felt.
“We’ve scanned him just to be certain. There’s no problem on the scan so he’ll be able to resume training but we’ve taken a decision to leave him out of this game.”