Steven Gerrard furious over Harry Redknapp's claims, demands him to reveal those Tottenham players who shirked England duty

Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard has reacted furiously to Harry Redknapp’s claims that a number of Tottenham players asked to be withdrawn from international duty for England, and urged the QPR manager to name the players he is talking about, reports the Daily Star.

The current QPR manager was a candidate for the England job in 2012, though he ultimately lost out to Roy Hodgson.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Redknapp said: ”I still think we go to tournaments and there are too many pull-outs, it seems to be everyone has got an excuse.

“I can tell you when I was at Tottenham, when full internationals came around, there were two or three players who did not want to play for England.

“They would come to me 10 days before the game and say, ‘Gaffer, get me out of that game, I don’t want to play in that game’.

“That was how it was. I’d say, ‘you’re playing for your country, you should want to play’.

“They would say, ‘nah, my girlfriend is having a baby in four weeks, I don’t want to play’ and that is the truth, so it makes you wonder.”

England will be returning home from Brazil after their final Group D game against Costa Rica. After losing their opening two games, only pride will be at stake, and England have failed to progress from the group stage for the first time since 1958.

Despite the disappointing performance, Steven Gerrard has rejected Redknapp’s claims that players do not want to be involved in the England set-up, and called on Redknapp to “embarrass” those players he is referring to.

At an England press conference, the England and Liverpool captain said: ”I tell you what, I’d be interested to find out who those players are.

“If Harry is making a comment like that, he should name them and embarrass them. No one in this group wants to go home. No one wants to go home.

“Should Harry not name them? If he’s not naming them, I can’t answer questions about it, but if it’s the case, it’s disgusting.

“For me, if a player doesn’t want to be, he doesn’t deserve to be here at a World Cup.

“The comment is a comment, like ‘them’. ‘They’ didn’t want to play for England.

“Who? Name them? Is it Aaron Lennon, Kyle Walker, Andros Townsend? I don’t know who he means. Five years ago? 10 years ago?

Twelve Tottenham players appeared for England during Redknapp’s time at White Hart Lane – Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Aaron Lennon, Darren Bent, Scott Parker, David Bentley, Jermaine Jenas, Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone, and Kyle Walker.

Andros Townsend and Kyle Walker were ruled out of the tournament in Brazil with injury, and Gerrard is certain Redknapp could not have been talking about Defoe, adding: ”I’ve spoken to Jermain Defoe and he’s devastated (to miss the tournament)”.