SAINTS goalkeeper Alex McCarthy has expressed his surprise that ‘ridiculous’ James Ward-Prowse failed to make Gareth Southgate’s England World Cup squad.

Ward-Prowse earned his 11th cap in June’s 0-0 Nations League draw with Italy but for the second successive major tournament, the Saints captain missed the cut for Southgate’s final squad.

While his form has nosedived alongside his entire team, Ward-Prowse still leads the Premier League in distance covered this season, something McCarthy pointed to recently on The Yours, Mine, Away! Podcast.

"He regularly covers more than 12 kilometres in a game, which is just ridiculous,” the back-up Saints keeper said. “To be fair, I was surprised he didn't go to the World Cup."

"He is just unbelievable. You just expect him to score or at least hit the target, when he takes a free-kick.

"You know he is going there with the whip he can get on the ball, and you try to go early, but he can just go the other side. I wind him up in training because I do go early, but his technique is just unbelievable and he is so professional with the work he does on and off the pitch, he deserves it.”

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