I should have been in England’s World Cup squad, says Jack Wilshere

Jack Wilshere has expressed frustration at his World Cup omission and declared that he should be in Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

The Arsenal midfielder failed to make the 23-man party when Southgate announced his squad for Russia on Wednesday.

But the 26-year-old insists he should be in the squad after feeling “fit, sharp and strong all season”.

“Think its about time I had my say, ” Wilshere posted on his personal Twitter account.

“It goes without saying that I’m naturally incredibly disappointed to have been left out of the England squad for the World Cup.

“I’ve felt fit, sharp and strong all season and believe I should be in the squad!

“And given the chance I could have made a real impact.

“However, I have to respect the manager’s decision and would like to wish the whole squad all the very best for the tournament.

“I will always be an England fan and will be supporting the boys with the rest of the nation.”

Wilshere, who has often suffered from injuries in the past, made 38 appearances for Arsenal in the 2017-18 season.

But he made only 12 Premier League starts in what was to prove Arsene Wenger’s final campaign at the Emirates Stadium.

Wilshere won the last of his 34 England caps in the Euro 2016 defeat to Iceland.

Fabian Delph, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier were all chosen ahead of Wilshere, and Southgate has defended his decision to omit the Arsenal man.

“Jack Wilshere has of course been in our thoughts,” Southgate said at a Wembley press conference on Thursday.

“We selected him in March, but he hasn’t played a game for us.

“We’ve been pleased with the players who played in November and March.

“The only midfielder we added is Fabian Delph, who had a fantastic season with the champions.

“Jack had a good spell but was maybe not as effective towards the end of the season. We’re very open minded in terms of what we want.”