Rio Ferdinand has accused Roy Hodgson of disrespecting him, claiming that the England boss left him out of his Euro 2012 squad, despite an injury to Gary Cahill.

The Manchester United defender was overlooked for Euro 2012, when Liverpool’s Martin Kelly was called up as a replacement of Gary Cahill, who was ruled out with a double fracture of his jaw after he collided with Joe Hart during the friendly win over Belgium on Saturday.

“It’s a lack of respect. He wants to play”, Ferdinand’s representative Jamie Moralee told BBC Sport. “Rio’s very disappointed. He thought he had done enough. It’s very difficult to accept”, the agent added.

“This is a player with 81 caps for his country. I don’t know anyone who understands it. It’s not been handled in the right way”, Jamie Moralee went on saying.

But, Hodgson pressed that the decision was for “footballing reasons” and is no where related to the fact that England defender John Terry will be standing trial in July over allegations that he racially abused Ferdinand’s brother Anton.

Rio Ferdinand yesterday took to Twitter to take a swipe at this reasoning tweeting, “What reasons?????!!!”

Before Cahill, the England boss has already lost goalkeeper John Ruddy and midfielders Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard from his original 23-man squad sue to injuries. England will now head into the tournament with John Terry, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott and Phil Jones competing for places of defenders.

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