England interim boss Stuart Pearce has refuted suggestions that he deliberately snubbed Andy Carroll for next week's friendly against Holland due to the Liverpool striker's refusal to take part in the Under-21s tournament last year.
Pearce named his 25-man senior squad yesterday, which excluded Carroll as well as Arsenal winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
"Andy Carroll was injured last summer, that's why he couldn't participate in the Under-21s," The Mirror quotes Pearce as saying. "That was the only reason in respect of that.
"It's been reported that I had a problem with Andy, which is so far from the truth it's incredible. I picked this squad solely on the form of the other four that I put in front of him against anything he'd doing at the moment.
"I just feel with Andy at the moment is rediscovering some form. I feel as though the individuals we've put in before him are slightly ahead of him at this moment in time."
While the former Newcastle United striker missed out on a place in the England side, Sunderland frontman Fraizer Campbell received his first ever call-up to the national team.
