Southampton boss Mark Hughes has backed Ryan Bertrand to make his way back into the England squad.

The left-back started nine of Gareth Southgate's first 14 matches as England's head coach. But he hasn't featured for the Three Lions since November.

"Ryan is just getting on with the business of working hard for us here," said Hughes.

"He was obviously disappointed missing out on the World Cup this summer because that was a big aim of his.

"But he has moved on from that very, very quickly and is not dwelling on it.

"He is still available – if selected – and if he is performing at a good level I am sure he'd like to be considered.

"At the moment it doesn't seem like he is too close to a place in the squad – but he'll keep on playing well here - and hopefully his performances will do the talking for him.

"I have no doubt he is still very much in frame – but Gareth at the moment seems to want to promote younger players.

"You can understand that after he had a very odd World Cup – and that's probably the right way to go.

"But the point I'm making is if Ryan plays well then, like any other player, you'd still expect him to be in the thinking of the international manager."