Steve Howey: 'Rio Ferdinand should be at Euro 2012'

Former England defender Steve Howey is adamant that Rio Ferdinand should have been called up to replace the injured Gary Cahill for Euro 2012.

Cahill suffered a broken jaw in the 1-0 win over Belgium on Saturday, while Ferdinand was tipped to be called up to Roy Hodgson's squad.

However, the 33-year-old has now seen Phil Jagielka and Martin Kelly brought into the 23-man party instead of him, and Howey insists that the Manchester United defender should be going to the tournament.

"I've got no idea why Roy Hodgson hasn't gone like-for-like and brought Rio Ferdinand in," Howey told talkSPORT.

"Rio's come out publicly, after he wasn't included first time, and said he could play that amount of games in a short period of time.

"I don't understand why Hodgson hasn't gone like-for-like and brought in a centre-half? Whilst Kelly is a good player, we now have six players in the squad that are from Liverpool. Their performances this season have got their manager the sack."

Howey earned four caps for England and played over 190 times for Newcastle United.