Ross Barkley likes tweet showing how little he's played for England after another 90 minutes on the bench
Barkley has not played for England since May 2016 and was overlooked again by manager Gareth Southgate during Sunday's win over Lithuania
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Your support makes all the difference.Everton midfielder Ross Barkley appeared to let the frustration of another 90 minutes on the England substitutes' bench get the better of him after he liked a post on Twitter that highlighted his lack of international football.
The 23-year-old has not played a minute of football during his last seven England call-ups, and is yet to feature under recently appointed manager Gareth Southgate despite being named in his squads for the two matches last week against world champions Germany and Lithuania.
Southgate elected against bringing Barkley on despite England being 2-0 up against Lithuania in Sunday’s 2018 World Cup qualifier, and the frustration for Barkley comes in that he was also an unused substitute for the Euro 2016 games against Iceland, Slovakia, Wales and Russia, as well as the warm-up friendly against Portugal.
His last appearance for the Three Lions came in the May 2016 friendly with Australia, and despite forcing his way back into Southgate’s plans due to his impressive form for Everton, he is yet to return to the international fold.
That’s why eyebrows were raised when Barkley was spotted on Twitter liking a post by the @Squawka account that showed just how many minutes he had played for England over his last seven call-ups.
Barkley’s frustrations were compounded by the fact that Southgate only made two substitutions during the win over Lithuania, with Marcus Rashford and goalscorer Jamie Vardy sent on after returning striker Jermain Defoe had put England ahead.
He’s made 22 appearances for England since making his debut in 2013, but will have missed more than a year of international football once his next chance at playing for his country comes around as Southgate’s side do not play again until their World Cup qualifier against Scotland on 10 June.
Instead, he will be able to focus fully on performing for his club, with Everton taking on fierce rivals Liverpool in the Merseyside derby this weekend.
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