The former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has said that he does not think that his former teammate Rio Ferdinand will be called up by the England manager Roy Hodgson again. The Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is clearly coming to the end of his stellar career. He has been recently left out of the England squad that went to the Euro 2012. It was largely thought that this omission was due to the presence of John Terry in the squad. However, even after the retirement of John Terry from international football, it appears that Roy Hodgson is not interested in calling up the former Leeds united defender.

The 37-year-old Gary Neville was part of the England coaching setup with the Euro 2012. He has said that Roy Hodgson is looking to build a squad that will be capable of winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and he is not looking at the short-term options. Rio Ferdinand will be 35 years of age by the time the World Cup kicks off in Brazil. Hence, his time with the England national team is unlikely to continue any further. England will be facing crunch qualifying matches against San Marino and Poland in October.

“Roy Hodgson has never said that Rio will no longer play for England. Rio Ferdinand has never said he won’t play for England again. But how many games has Rio Ferdinand played for Fabio Capello in the last 18 months? Three. He has not been playing regularly for England for the past two years. Roy Hodgson is looking to 2014 and I don’t see a big issue with this,” said Gary Neville in a recent interview. The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has also said Rio Ferdinand to concentrate on his club career rather than focus on England.