England Watch - Phil Bardsley
Bardsley has played for three different clubs this season
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Kieran Richardson has impressed at England under-21 level and scored twice on his full debut. InTheNews' Alistair Potter asks: Is he in line to start at the next World Cup? |  |
Wednesday, 11, Apr 2007 06:14
Phil Bardsley is a local lad playing for his dream club.
Or at least he was until he was farmed out for the fourth time in three years to another club to gain first-team experience.
The good news for Bardsley is that each one of his loan spells has arguably been at a higher level each time - first to Royal Antwerp in Belgium, then to near neighbours Burnley in the Championship before a trip north of the border to the Scottish Premier League with Rangers.
His current stint, at Premiership side Aston Villa, was agreed during the January transfer window and he has been suitably impressive in Martin O'Neill's back-four that the club want to make him a permanent member of their squad.
So where does all this moving around and "gaining experience" leave Bardsley in terms of the England squad? More specifically, is he likely to play at World Cup 2010? InTheNews' Alistair Potter talks up his chances.
Name: Phillip Anthony Bardsley
Position: Right-back
Club: Aston Villa (on loan from Manchester United)
Age by South Africa 2010: 24
As a young right-back at Old Trafford, Phil Bardsley was in the perfect situation to learn his trade from one of England's best.
His senior in the United side, Gary Neville, is the club captain and is one of the stalwarts of the England international set-up and, love him or loath him for his various grating antics as a uncompromising United man through-and-through, his loyalty and his talent as a defender cannot be questioned.
The only downside for Bardsley learning under Neville is that his opportunities in the first team would always be few and far between and would rely on an injury to one of the team's best players.
In such a situation, junior players often find themselves in a lose-lose situation in that there is no way they can impress the watching public.
Put on a poor showing and fans will automatically compare you to your superior senior; but put in a flawless performance and the chances are that your name will be forgotten amidst all the plaudits, simply because the supporters are used to seeing a consistently high level of play at your position.
It was likely this situation, coupled with the emergence of John O'Shea as the first-choice backup on the right-hand side, that contributed to Bardsley's decision to swap Old Trafford for Villa Park and the promise of more first-team action in the Midlands.
His contribution since joining Martin O'Neill's squad has been good, playing ten games and slowly becoming more of a factor in each one.
One of his most recent efforts in the Villans' first-team, at the time of writing, was a 2-1 victory over Blackburn at Ewood Park. He was the man who gave away the penalty, which Benni McCarthy slotted home to give Rovers the lead.
However, he made amends soon afterwards, setting up veteran Patrick Berger for the equaliser ten minutes later.
Bardsley has yet to pull on an England shirt in any capacity and, as some scouts north of the border have already noted, is also eligible to play for the national side in Scotland.
He appears to be behind his Manchester United clubmate Neville in the pecking order for the foreseeable future but a lack of first-team action until the last couple of months seems to have also set him behind others in the race to take over in the right-back role.
Manchester City's young defender Micah Richards has already been given the opportunity to represent his country in the senior team at the tender age of 18 but Bardsley is still waiting in the wings.
The chances are that Bardsley will face a long wait before he is able to wear the Three Lions and if he continues in his current vein of form he could well switch allegiance and represent the country of his father's birth if called upon by Scotland manager Alex McLeish.
In order to win any caps whatsoever though, Bardsley must continue to put in the solid performances he has at Villa Park so that he is able to keep his name known to the national selectors.
Some consistency with one club in particular would not go amiss either, and for that he will need to curb what is widely regarded as a bit of a temper. And if anyone can help him out in that department, one has to think that man is Martin O'Neill.
England's 2010 World Cup squad
*Players in bold - tickets to South Africa booked already
Goalkeepers
Paul Robinson
Possibles: Chris Kirkland, Ben Foster, Rob Green, Scott Carson
Defenders
John Terry, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher
Possibles: Glen Johnson, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, Ledley King, Michael Dawson, Anton Ferdinand, Leighton Baines, Justin Hoyte, Curtis Davies, Wes Brown, Phil Bardsley, Michael Mancienne
Midfielders
Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick
Possibles: Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddlestone, Nigel Reo-Coker, Lee Cattermole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stewart Downing, Giles Barnes, James Morrison, Kieran Richardson
Forwards
Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen
Possibles: David Nugent, Theo Walcott, James Vaughan, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Darren Bent, Dean Ashton, Cameron Jerome