West Ham star James Ward-Prowse has admitted that missing out on the England squad for the second time this season is a "huge disappointment."
Ward-Prowse, 28, has been superb since signing for West Ham from Southampton in a £30million transfer deal over the summer, registering six assists and scoring two goals in only eight appearances. On Thursday, the set-piece specialist helped West Ham to a 2-1 win away to German side Freiburg just hours it was confirmed that he hadn't been selected by England boss Gareth Southgate for this month's double-header against Australia and Italy.
Southgate instead chose to call up out-of-favour Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips and former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who now plays for Saudi Arabian side Al Ettifaq. The pair were also picked ahead of Ward-Prowse for September's round of fixtures against Ukraine and Scotland, a decision which baffled fans and has done so once more.
After assisting again in Germany, setting up Nayef Aguerd's second-half winner, the 28-year-old told TNT Sports : "It was a huge disappointment. Like I've said many times in interviews, you can only control what you can control as a player, and that's playing to a certain level that you believe is good enough to be in that squad.
"It's important that you play regularly and I'm doing both at the minute. I feel like I'm in a good place, and it's not gone my way. But I'm focused on West Ham, doing my best for this club and enjoying every minute of it, so long that may that continue."
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Ward-Prowse boasts 11 caps after making his England debut in 2017 but hasn't played for the Three Lions since their 0-0 Nations League draw with Italy in June last year. Southgate is yet to comment on snubbing the midfielder this time around but ex- Premier League striker Darren Bent hit out at the decision ahead of the September internationals.
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James Ward-Prowse once again wasn't selected by Gareth Southgate (Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)"What is going on? Ward-Prowse has been unbelievable this season for West Ham," former Tottenham, Sunderland and Aston Villa star Bent told TalkSPORT. "His delivery into the box, his quality, his work-rate is brilliant.
"I get it, I know Kalvin Phillips has never let Gareth down and all that, but you cannot tell me, if you go through this squad, and listen I'm going to put Jordan Henderson into this, Jordan, Kavlin Phillips, those two, you could even say Conor Gallagher, you can't tell me they've played better than Ward-Prowse.
"Again, it's the whole Gareth Southgate thing about, 'he's never let me down', but if you're Ward-Prowse it's a difficult one because part of him probably wants to say to himself, you know what, what more have I got to do?"
Ward-Prowse will be back in action on Sunday when West Ham welcome Newcastle to the London Stadium. David Moyes' side are seventh in the Premier League table and sit top of their Europa League group by three points after beating Freiburg.
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