What Raheem Sterling's England call-up proves

Players at big clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United receive huge bias when it comes to England call-ups. Just ask Swansea City.

At 17-years-old to be performing for Liverpool, and now England, makes you quite some player. And Raheem Sterling has every chance to be.

Right now he is yet to even begin to make his name, making just two league starts for Liverpool - Not just this season, but in his entire career.

So to be called into the England squad proves one thing - Not that Sterling has great potential, but that chances of a Three Lions cap directly correlate to your club badge.

While not to unfairly single out Sterling as an example, lets present a few others.

Tom Cleverley made one appearance for Manchester United in the Community Shield before being granted an England call-up in 2011. He was forced to pull out of the squad through injury and only recently made his debut.

When he was on loan at Wigan there was no hint of a call-up. Similar to compatriot Danny Welbeck who spent a season on loan with Sunderland, which saw him unable to break out of the under-21 set up. Yet one Community Shield game later in a Manchester United shirt and he was called into the England squad.

If Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was wearing a Wigan shirt last season would he have been called into the Euro 2012 squad?

Now the flip side of the argument when it comes to Oxlade-Chamberlain is that by playing for Arsenal he was also playing Champions League football, thus proving himself at higher level.

It is also often contested that just to get into a Champions League contending side, a player has to be of real quality. And that's true, but shouldn't the real barometer be form and productivity in the Premier League?

If so, then Swansea City players can rightly feel aggrieved. Scott Sinclair played 3,120 minutes of Premier League football last year, while Oxlade Chamberlain featured in just 562. Yet it was the teenager just four-years younger who was selected.

It is little wonder the winger felt it necessary to leave a promising Swansea side to sign for Manchester City, where his game time could diminish, to enhance his career and international prospects.

Swansea's Nathan Dyer has been overlooked again, while Leon Britton was snubbed last season in favour of Liverpool's underperforming Jordan Henderson.

Roy Hodgson's right of reply here would surely argue that he has countered any such claim of big club bias by including Adam Lallana in his squad. It is a postive step and shows the manager has not got it completely wrong. The Southampton midfielder is a great talent, but selecting a 24-year-old with more than 170 first team appearances to his name is quite different to the Sterling scenario.

Quite simply if Raheem Sterling was playing for Swansea City, he would not be in the England squad.

What do you think about big-club bias in the England set up?

Dan Coombs

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Dan Coombs is a writer who is keen to embrace the internet revolution. He first started writing for us in June 2011 and commenced his new role as Sports Editor in February 2012.

As a trained journalist he has met famous faces from Mr T to Boris Johnson. He once featured in an England World Cup music video too, but it did not make the charts.

He grew up wanting to be a Formula 1 driver, but it looks like this dream has passed him by. Instead, he hopes you enjoy reading his writing on our site, as we seek to debate the day's sporting hot topics.