Rooney: The omission of the Real Madrid star from the England squad is very confusing

description Wayne RooneyThe Manchester United legend leaving the Real Madrid star out of England’s squad is “extremely confusing”.

England’s squad for games against Uruguay and Japan last March saw the sudden absence of Alexander-Arnold, despite his increased appearances for Real this year and in light of the absence of first-choice Rhys James through injury.

Manager Thomas Tuchel decided to bring Ben White back into the squad after a voluntary absence where he started two friendlies and scored against Uruguay as part of Tuchel’s final squad before being named in next summer’s World Cup squad.

Rooney said on the “Wayne Rooney Show” of the BBC network. “With all due respect to Ben White, I think he’s a really good player, but him being on the roster and playing in place of Arnold seems very puzzling to me.”

Alexander-Arnold has not featured for England since coming off as a second-half substitute in a World Cup qualifier against Andorra 11 months ago.

The 27-year-old initially struggled following his move to Real from Liverpool last summer, but has become a key element of the Spanish giants’ set-up since recovering from a hamstring injury last January.

Thomas Tuchel said last November that Jarel Quansah had overtaken Alexander-Arnold in the rankings, while Tino Libramento has also recently featured at full-back with England.

While Rooney believes Rhys James, who has been out since mid-March with a hamstring injury, is an “unreliable” player due to injuries, the former England captain believes the Chelsea defender is best suited to play at right-back in the national team.

Rooney, who revealed his choice of England’s back four of James, Harry Maguire, Mark Gehey and Luke Shaw, added:

Rooney concluded. “We have a lot of attacking options in the front line, so we don’t need the full-backs to constantly advance. Rather, we keep the balance and let the forwards decide the games. Looking at the current names, you can’t say they are the best defensively anyway.”