GARETH Southgate said the three goalkeepers in his England squad had been picked 'on merit' after fine seasons at club level.

Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope has joined Everton's Jordan Pickford and Stoke's Jack Butland in the 23-man World Cup squad, with Joe Hart jettisoned after a difficult campaign on loan at West Ham.

Hart had been expected to make the cut for most of the season, having been England's number one until recently with 75 caps for the Three Lions.

But his form for the Hammers, which saw him dropped for Adrian at times, has cost him, with Pope getting the nod to replace him after a fine season with the Clarets.

Hart hasn't even made the standby list, with Burnley's Tom Heaton named instead, despite not featuring for the Clarets since suffering a dislocated shoulder in September, an injury which handed Pope the chance to impress at Turf Moor.

Southgate admitted the calls to tell Hart, as well as left-back Ryan Bertrand, that they weren't in the squad had been difficult, but said he had picked the three form goalkeepers this season.

He said: "Ryan and Joe have played a lot over the last two years so they're not decisions we took lightly. I could've had easier conversations by keeping them involved.

"With Joe, we've got three other goalkeepers who have had very good seasons and the decision I was faced with was do I keep Joe in and have experience around the group? Or give the three guys who have basically had a better season a chance? We felt the players all needed to be in on merit after their performances this season.

"Ryan is also very unfortunate in that it's probably one of the strongest positions we have. Ryan has had a decent season but I just felt the others were ahead of him."

Southgate was also grateful to those players who have agreed to be placed on standby, such as Heaton and Clarets centre back James Tarkowski, who could both be just one injury away from being added to the squad.

He said: "History tells us that one of those standby players may end up in the squad, as it's very unusual for us to get through the end of the season and our two preparation games without any issues.

"All of the guys on standby have been really professional in their approach to this. They recognise there's still an opportunity."