Newcastle striker left out of England Under-21 squad because of loyalty to his other strikers

Stuart Pearce has revealed he left Andy Carroll out of the England Under-21 squad because of a sense of loyalty to the strikers who starred in the final two rounds of European Championships qualifiers.

Carroll pulled out of last month's games against Portugal and Lithuania citing an ankle injury and, in his absence, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge and Nathan Delfouneso fired England into the two-legged play-off with Romania that gets underway at Carrow Road tonight.

“There was not room for Andy Carroll in the squad,” said Pearce. “I've shown loyalty to the three that have done well for me.

“We've had a fantastic squad situation here. I wanted three strikers in my squad, and the three I've got in at the moment have done extremely well for me.

“Andy will have a big future in international football. Whether that will be in the next squad, I don't know.”