Jonjo Shelvey has claimed that a falling-out with Gareth Southgate during their time together in the England under-21 set-up effectively ended any chance he had of earning further international recognition — including a place in the squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The former Liverpool and Newcastle United midfielder collected just six senior England caps across his career, a tally he believes should have been considerably higher. "Yes, 100 per cent I should have won more caps," Shelvey told FourFourTwo. "Sometimes I didn't deserve them, but other times I did and was overlooked."

The under-21 incident

Shelvey traces the breakdown in his relationship with Southgate to a conversation that took place when Southgate was appointed England under-21 manager. At that point, Shelvey had already represented the senior side but remained eligible for the youth team.

"Southgate gave me a call and said: 'I'm not going to bring you because you've just moved clubs and you've got the Europa League qualifiers, so I'm going to look at some other players, and I also expect you to be with the senior team,'" Shelvey recalled. He says he accepted the explanation and told Southgate he would be available if circumstances changed.

What followed, he claims, was a damaging misrepresentation. "Then I think he said I'd refused to play," Shelvey continued. "When Roy Hodgson called me up to the senior squad, I remember Stuart Pearce saying on Sky Sports News that I shouldn't have been selected as I'd refused to play for the under-21s."

A confrontation at St George's Park

Shelvey says he confronted Southgate directly at England's training base to clear the air. "I went to find Southgate and asked him why he'd said that, because I'd said I would come. He just said: 'No, no, I didn't say that.'" Shelvey added: "I knew from that moment I wasn't going to play for him."

The 2018 World Cup snub

The moment that stung most came in the summer of 2018, when Southgate — by then England's senior manager — named his squad for Russia without Shelvey's name on it. Shelvey felt his form that season more than merited inclusion.

"I should have been taken to the 2018 World Cup, because that season I had the most assists of any English midfielder when I was at Newcastle United," he said. "I was playing the best football of my career but didn't get a call-up. I think it all stemmed from something that happened with Gareth Southgate a few years earlier."

Shelvey had been instrumental as Newcastle United won promotion from the Championship in 2016/17 and went on to enjoy one of the finest seasons of his career back in the Premier League — yet his efforts went unrewarded at international level.