England World Cup squad: Gareth Southgate reveals why he didn’t pick Joe Hart or Ryan Bertrand

Both players were surprisingly left out of Southgate's 23-man squad

Gareth Southgate has revealed why he decided to leave both Ryan Bertrand and Joe Hart out of his England 2018 World Cup squad, despite both players being first-team starters at the beginning of the qualifying campaign.

Bertrand started the season well with Southampton but as their form slide towards a relegation battle, his chances faded and he was ultimately left out in favour or Manchester United’s Ashley Young and Tottenham Hotspur’s Danny Rose, with Manchester City’s Fabian Delph acting as cover.

Hart, meanwhile, has struggled throughout the season to hold down the No 1 spot at West Ham and lost his position to Adrian at the London Stadium and his place on the plane to Russia.

“Ryan and Joe have played a lot over the last two years so they’re not decisions we took lightly. I could’ve had easier conversations by keeping them involved,” Southgate said.

“With Joe, we’ve got three other goalkeepers who have had very good seasons and the decision I was faced with was do I keep Joe in and have experience around the group? Or give the three guys who have basically had a better season a chance? We felt the players all needed to be in on merit after their performances this season.

“Ryan is also very unfortunate in that it’s probably one of the strongest positions we have. Ryan has had a decent season but I just felt the others were ahead of him.

“Both calls were really tough. They’re both good guys and have contributed a lot throughout qualification, so it wasn’t an enjoyable part of the job and I feel it’s important to acknowledge their contribution in getting us to Russia.”

Neither player makes England’s standby list either, with Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski, Lewis Cook, Jake Livemore and Adam Lallana all waiting in the wings.

Full England squad for World Cup 2018:

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Jack Butland (Stoke), Nick Pope (Burnley)

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Danny Rose (all Tottenham), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Phil Jones (Man Utd), John Stones (Man City), Gary Cahill (Chelsea)

Midfielder: Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Eric Dier, Dele Alli (both Tottenham), Jesse Lingard, Ashley Young (both Man Utd), Fabian Delph (Man City), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea)

Forwards: Raheem Sterling (Man City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Man Utd), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal)

Standby: Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski (both Burnley), Lewis Cook (Bournemouth), Jake Livemore (West Bromwich Albion), Adam Lallana (Liverpool)