Harry Kane has blasted his England team-mates and accused them of shirking their national duties after eight players withdrew from the squad ahead of Nations League clashes with Greece and the Republic of Ireland.
The captain has suggested those players have exploited the uncertainty in the national team set-up before new manager Thomas Tuchel’s tenure begins in 2024.
The all-time leading England goalscorer expressed his disappointment, saying that playing for your country should take precedence over club interests.
The Three Lions skipper told ITV: “I think the joy to play for England. I think he (Gareth Southgate) brought that back. I think every camp people were excited to come, every camp people wanted to play for England and, yeah, that’s the most important thing.
“I think England comes before anything. England comes before club.
“England is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer, and Gareth was hot on that and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions if, you know, that started to drift from certain players.
“It’s a shame this week, obviously. Yeah, look, I think it’s a tough period of the season and, yeah, maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit.
“I don’t really like it if I’m totally honest. I think, like I just said there, England comes before anything, any club situation.”
Aaron Ramsdale, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Levi Colwill, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden all withdrew from the squad this week.
They have been replaced by five players – Morgan Rogers, Tino Livramento, Jarrad Branthwaite, Jarrod Bowen and James Trafford.
Newcastle star Hall says interim manager Lee Carsley has made it clear what he expects from the squad after several no-shows.
The full-back explained: “From what he (Carsley) said to us, his focus and our focus is purely on these two games, because they’re important games.
“We’re second in the table. We want to end the camp finishing top. So there’s two massive games for us. We know how important the game against Greece will be, because of where they are in the table.
“A game against Ireland is always important as well. So it’s two big games for us and we’ll look to win them both.”