SAINTS icon Matt Le Tissier believes James Ward-Prowse has every right to feel “aggrieved” over his England snub.

St Mary’s duo Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond were named in Gareth Southgate’s initial Three Lions squad for the Uefa Nations League finals next month.

Despite this, they both failed to make the cut when the England chief cut his squad from 27 down to 23.

Le Tissier said: “I’m a little bit [surprised]. I thought the pair of them, especially in the second half of the season, had done enough to get themselves in the squad.

“I know they are still training with the squad in case of an injury, so there is still a chance for them.

“I look at the players in there and, for me, Prowsey may feel more aggrieved than Nathan.

“He’ll be looking at the midfield thinking, ‘What has Fabian Delph done in the second half of the season that I haven’t?’.”

When Southgate took charge of the national side he admitted that he wouldn’t be afraid to leave out big players who aren’t getting any minutes for their domestic side.

Fabian Delph played just 20 times for Manchester City last season, with his last Premier League appearance coming against Huddersfield back in January.

The midfielder was named in the England squad in March, ahead of Ward-Prowse who was in the midst of an excellent run of form for Saints.

Delph withdrew from that Three Lions squad and was replaced by Ward-Prowse.

However, after regaining fitness, but not playing that much in recent times, the former Aston Villa man received the nod from Southgate for this round of games again.

“I think Gareth has a little bit of loyalty towards players who have done well for him in the past,” continued Le Tissier.

“He probably feels like he owes Delph a place in the squad at the moment.

“It’s understandable, but you can’t make sweeping statements that you are only going to pick players on form and who are playing for their team and then pick players who haven’t played much.

“It’s slightly odd.”

Both Redmond and Ward-Prowse had an excellent end to the season, scoring crucial goals to help keep Saints in the Premier League.

Ward-Prowse then went onto earn his second Three Lions cap against Montenegro away from home.

Having made their England debuts together, it looked as though Redmond was about to join his Saints teammate on two appearances.

The 25-year-old winger ended the season as the south coast side’s top scorer on nine goals, beating Danny Ings by one.

After being cut from the Three Lions squad, Redmond and Ward-Prowse gave Southgate a glimpse of what he was going to be missing, as the duo both netted in a 5-0 friendly win over the England Under-21s.

However, because of the attacking talent Southgate has at his disposal, Le Tissier felt it was always going to be tough for Redmond to break into the final squad.

He added: “It’s difficult with the forwards because Harry Kane is obviously going to be in there.

“You’ve got Callum Wilson at Bournemouth who had a brilliant season. Marcus Rashford has so much ability that you’d be surprised if he left someone like that out.

“I think with Nathan’s situation, he probably isn’t as aggrieved as James.”

Matt Le Tissier was speaking at Lawrie McMenemy’s annual golf day which was in aid of Autism Hampshire and sponsored by Meachers Global Logistics.