Gareth Barry is a slightly different case as he is 32 and already won 53 caps for England. However, he is certainly one that would very much be seen as an outside bet to travel to the World Cup. This is mainly due to finding first team football hard to come by at Manchester City. The loan switch to Everton has done the midfielder the world of good, and has the same average rating as Delph has managed. Again though, he is one that's best qualities are as a defensive midfielder. Nevertheless, if we were going to pick an England squad based on performance data then he would definitely get a place. The Toffees have been superb so far this season, and putting up a real challenge for a place in the top four. In my mind, there are two players that are the true driving force behind that, one of them is Romelu Lukaku and Barry is the other one. The defensive protection that he gives Robert Martinez's team is vital, and who is to say that England couldn't use him in a similar way if they dare to attack in Brazil. The common theme throughout this slideshow is for Roy Hodgson to think outside the box in terms of selecting the squad to take to the World Cup. The biggest names that play for the biggest clubs aren't always the way to go when looking for a squad that can actually win. I hope the England boss takes that on board and considers some of the players on this list.
James Kent is a freelance writer published on Yahoo! Sports, Bleacher Report, FTBpro, Bloomberg Sports and many others. He has also been featured in the Daily Telegraph, Zoo Magazine, MSN Sport and the Manchester Evening News.
His role on What Culture is currently to produce compelling football articles that nearly always use of combination of stats and strong opinion. Feel free to connect with James via Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.