Troy Deeney should have been picked for England this summer according to The Sun’s football editor Charlie Wyett.

He believes the Hornets striker, who has just penned a new five-year deal at Vicarage Road, should have been called up for the matches against the Republic of Ireland and Slovenia in June, instead of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy.

Vardy scored just five goals for The Foxes last term in their successful battle for Premiership survival, while Deeney scored 21 times as he skippered Watford to promotion to the top-flight last term.

It was the third season running that Deeney has hit 20 or more goals in the Championship and Wyett said that record should have been good enough to bring the 27-year-old to the national manager’s eye.

Speaking on Talksport, Wyett said England boss Roy Hodgson was wrong to overlook players who are not plying their trade at the top level.

He said: “For the matches against Slovenia and Ireland in June we had a shortage of strikers because England had Patrick Bamford selected for the Under-21s, you had Harry Kane out there as well and Sido Berahino.

"We ended up picking Jamie Vardy who, with the greatest respect, scored five goals for Leicester. He’s not an international-class player.

"They should have picked Troy Deeney. Of course there would have been uproar and hilarity if they had picked a Watford player but on performances last season, and what he did for Watford and the goals he scored, Deeney would have been a far more deserved call-up than a bloke who scored a few goals for Leicester.

"But people do patronise the Championship and there are some very good players in that league and it does annoy me sometimes when managers only look within the Premier League. Jamie Vardy should not have been in that England squad.”

Now Deeney has a season in the top flight to prove his international credentials competing on an equal footing with Vardy and Wyett’s comments should add extra spice to the Hornets’ matches against Leicester at the King Power Stadium on November 7 and at Vicarage Road on March 5.