Rio Ferdinand has insisted that Reece James is better than Trent Alexander-Arnold right now.
The England full-backs have formed an intense rivalry in the battle for the Three Lions right-back birth, and both were on the scoresheet for their club sides in the Champions League this week.
Ferdinand, however, speaking on BT Sport, suggested the Chelsea man is ahead in the race right now, but didn’t rule out that changing in the near future.
‘On the ball, I believe he [James] is equally as good as Trent, but defensively he is a notch up in one versus one situations,’ said Ferdinand.
‘That’s the difference between them at the moment. It is a great subplot for the Premier League.
‘The best players have a rivalry and they will push each other. In my eyes, Reece is ahead right now, but Trent will come out of this spell and that could change.’
James put an in impressive performance for Chelsea against AC Milan this evening, scoring and setting up another while dealing with Rafael Leao going the other way.
Ferdinand was impressed with how James dealt with one of Europe’s hottest prospects, despite a slow start.
‘He was up against Leao, and if he didn’t know, Reece James knew after 10 mins he was in for a tough night,’ said the former England defender.
‘I was screaming up here, James faces him up and gets left early. Then he is worrying. But in the second half he decided he would be aggressive, didn’t let Leao behind, took the ball, then Leao knew he was in for a fight.
‘He also said I’ll defend you but I’ll go the other way too.’
Gareth Southgate is set to name is 26-man England squad later this month, with Alexander-Arnold failing to make an appearance in the most recent international break.