ANTONIO CONTE has ruled out Danny Drinkwater and Ross Barkley’s chances of making the World Cup.
The Chelsea fringe players have clocked just six Premier League starts between them.
Barkley, a £15million January signing, described his move to Stamford Bridge as a “fresh start” but he has only seen 54 minutes of league action.
Both players were left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for England’s international fixtures against Holland and Italy – their last before the end of the season.
And now Conte thinks their ship has sailed even if he picks the pair for their remaining four matches of the season.
The Italian said: “I don’t know, I think when you arrive at this point in the season, it doesn’t change [your chances of being selected] one or two games.
“The coach [Southgate] has a clear decision and we have to at first help Chelsea and finish in the best way. Then we will see which are the calls about the national team.
“For sure I feel sympathy for my players [if they get overlooked]. But then as you know very well before this big competition the coach has to pick up the best players during this season that deserve to play in this tournament.
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“I hope to see many Chelsea players at the World Cup.”
It also leaves question marks over Gary Cahill’s place in the side.
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The Blues skipper has not played for England since the qualifying win over Slovenia in October.
Chelsea still have aspirations of finishing in the top four but know they will need to beat rivals Liverpool at the weekend.
They sit in fifth, five points behind Tottenham and six behind Liverpool but have a game in hand over Jurgen Klopp’s men.
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