Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed he is shocked that defender Phil Jones was not included in Roy Hodgson’s England squad to Brazil next week.

Hodgson has dropped a number of fully capped England players into the under-21 squad including Jones, Raheem Sterling and Wilfried Zaha for their midweek friendly with Sweden.

Jones has shone through at United this season and whether playing right back or centre back, the 20 year old has done a solid job when called upon.

England’s right back spot is up for grabs with Micah Richards seemingly out of the picture and Kyle Walker’s poor form this season leaving Liverpool’s Glen Johnson as the stand out candidate.

However Ferguson believes Jones should be the man to face Brazil at Wembley and that dropping a player such as the former Blackburn man down into the under 21’s can have a damaging effect on their confidence.

“I am a bit surprised he was in the U-21 squad and not the full one,” Ferguson told The Sun.

“I think the main difficulty with players dropping down is that once they get into the full squad it makes them feel they have achieved something."

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