Everton midfielder Gareth Barry has claimed that his teammate Ross Barkley was "not too worried" by Sam Allardyce's decision not to include him in the England squad.
Barkley, who travelled with the team to Euro 2016 but did not play a single game, was omitted from the setup by Allardyce, who replaced Roy Hodgson in the summer.
Barry is confident that his club teammate can prove the manager wrong and win back his place in the squad, but in the meantime, the 35-year-old believes that Everton will benefit.
"Ross can feel a little bit hard done by," the Liverpool Echo quotes Barry as saying. "It's a tough job being England manager and Sam said it was a really tough decision for him but in terms of Ross now he needs to use that to help him improve and not get down about it but prove the manager wrong and get himself in the next squad.
"In a selfish way for Everton that means him performing well for Everton, so that can only be good for us. I trained with him and he didn't seem too worried about it. He's got that grit between his teeth that he's going to prove the England manager wrong so hopefully he can put in good performances with Everton to do that."
England ended up beating Slovakia 1-0 on Sunday after Adam Lallana scored in the 95th minute.
Danielle Joynson
