WARSAW — Patrice Evra admits he is “really surprised” that Rio Ferdinand has been left out of the England squad for Euro 2012 and believes the decision is “good” for France.
Ferdinand was not included in Roy Hodgson’s original 23-man squad for the tournament which was named last month after being overlooked for “footballing reasons”.
The subsequent withdrawals of several players, most notably Gary Cahill, have not led to a late call-up for Ferdinand, with Martin Kelly taking the place of the Chelsea defender.
The Manchester United centre-half’s omission prompted Ferdinand’s representatives to accuse the Football Association and Hodgson of treating him with a “total lack of respect”.
Evra is unsure why his United team-mate is not involved with England and intends to contact Ferdinand to find out how he is feeling.
However, with France facing England in their opening game of Euro 2012 in Donetsk on Monday, the left-back is happy that Ferdinand will not be in Ukraine.
“I am really surprised Rio isn’t playing,” Evra told The Sun. “He’s a big, strong player and I just don’t know what is happening.
“Maybe Rio has every reason to feel disappointed. Maybe the manager has good reasons, but it’s good for France that he is not playing. “I’m really disappointed for him because he is a good player. I will text him in the next few days to see how he is feeling.”
