Sir Alex: I’m surprised Man United’s Jones isn’t in England squad

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he was surprised Manchester United defender Phil Jones was not included in England’s squad for next week’s friendly against Brazil.

The 20-year-old has five England caps and was part of Roy Hodgson’s 23-man travelling party for Euro 2012, but the youngster has not been called up for next weekend’s Wembley fixture.

Instead, Jones will join Stuart Pearce’s Under-21 side for their match against Sweden, with reports suggesting Ferguson was furious with the decision.

However, the 71-year-old rubbished these claims, and instead, the United manager says that he can understand Pearce’s view point.

“I haven’t paid much attention to it,” said Ferguson. “I’m surprised he’s in the Under-21s and not the full squad.

“I think it’s happened quite a few times to players [being dropped back to Under-21s]. Is it understandable to the players? That can be the difficult thing to manage. The players, once they’re in the full squad, think they’ve achieved that – he’s played for the full squad.

“If they then take a step back, it can be hard to manage that. But he’s 20 years of age and Stuart Pearce wants to pick as good an Under-21 squad as he can get. And that includes players like Phil Jones.”