Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford can count himself incredibly unlucky not to make Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the upcoming internationals.
The Leeds striker has been in outstanding form this season as he helps fire leeds towards Premier League consolidation.
It’s a stark contrast from the inconsistencies we saw from him in the Championship, where he netted 16 league goals last season, from enough chances to score treble that amount.
He looks set to surpass that with Premier League goals this term, showcasing just how well he’s doing right now.
A trip to Fulham saw Bamford notch his 14th league goal of the season along with his sixth assist, winning Leeds three points in London for the first time in 17 attempts.
However, Bamford’s performances this season haven’t been enough for Southgate to call the striker up to his England squad alongside Kalvin Phillips.
There’s not much more that Bamford can do this season to prove he’s got everything in his locker: goals, assists, link-up play, and incredibly aggressive pressing have all come together to make an impressive repertoire for Bamford.
Ollie Watkins was instead called up for this month’s internationals and Rio Ferdinand believes Bamford will be fuming at the decision.
“He must be absolutely spitting feathers right now,” he told Vibe with Five.
“He’s the one I reckon that’s going, ‘no, this is a disrespect’. He’s got 14 goals this year, got another goal at the weekend, he got an assist.
“Bamford’s sitting there going: ‘how many more goals have I got to score? I’m the second top-scoring Englishman in the charts right now and I’m not getting any recognition. I’m not getting noticed’.
“He scores all types of goals. He gets across people, I think he’s been fabulous this season. And the high-intensity pressing team that he plays in, there’s no slacking.”
Ferdinand has got it spot on here, because there’s no reason why any other striker in the country should be getting in over Bamford, except for Harry Kane.
Southgate is picking players based on form this season and there are barely any players in the league, let alone English ones, doing more in the final third than Bamford.
Watkins has been brilliant so far for Aston Villa and deserves recognition too, but certainly not over Bamford who has clearly been better than him.
Bamford responded in great style with his goal and assist at Fulham though and while he keeps doing the business for us, that’s all that matters.