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Didi Hamann has singled out one England star for fierce criticism, claiming the Three Lions will not win a major tournament with him in the team.
The former Germany star believes that the player’s temperament lets him down and could cost England this summer.
Gareth Southgate‘s men are gearing up for their Euro 2024 opener against Serbia on Sunday night in Gelsenkirchen.
Only five players have survived from Southgate’s first major tournament as England boss at the 2018 World Cup in Russia – and Hamann’s target is one of those.
‘My worry would be Jordan Pickford,’ he told the In The Zone podcast.
‘He’s a good keeper, but I think his temperament lets him down at times.
‘In a tournament when you might play seven games, there will be setbacks – you need a keeper who calms his team-mates down.
‘I think Pickford does the opposite and this is where I’ve got my worries and question marks. I don’t think England win a big title with Pickford.’
Pickford is one of the most experienced players in the England squad and has racked up 61 caps since making his debut in 2017.
He recently named Joe Hart, who has succeeded as England’s No 1, as one of his inspirations in a national team Instagram video, and he is just 15 caps off surpassing his hero.
The 30-year-old has been selected in all of England’s last 19 major tournament games and been there in the big moments, helping them past Colombia in a penalty shoot-out in 2018 by saving Carlos Bacca’s effort.
That day Pickford had a water bottle with information about Colombia’s penalty takers and only Radamel Falcao shot differently to how he anticipated.
He claimed on Friday that he would even step up and take a penalty if needed – as he once did against England in the Nations League in 2019.
‘If called upon, I’m confident enough that I will take one,’ said Pickford. ‘I would step up for my country. But if you look throughout the squad, I think I’d be down the pecking order!’
‘Took one, converted one,’ he laughed, before admitting there had not been talk of shootouts in the camp.
‘We haven’t gone into that detail yet, from a goalkeeping point of view. The lads who take penalties naturally for their club, they might be doing their own thing. I’ll be doing my homework tomorrow on the Serbia game. But the knockout stages, that will come later, because we have three big games ahead of us before we get to that.’
He added: ‘Everyone is here because they’ve had a good season for their club and everyone has played for England before. We all know each other’s strengths – what we’re good at and what we need.
‘You say ‘defence’, it starts from the centre-forward all the way back. We need to work as a unit. I would say that is the key factor, working as a unit, instead of talking about the back four and the keeper.’
The other two goalkeepers are Aaron Ramsdale and Dean Henderson.