England need Jorginho-type midfielder as Rice and Phillips 'can't dictate tempo'

The Chelsea and Italy midfielder is the third favourite to pick up the Ballon d'Or after winning both the Champions League and Euro 2020 this year.

And manager Gareth Southgate has been told he's exactly the type of midfield conductor his team are lacking after some low-key results following their European Championship final appearance in the summer.

After the highs of a first major final since 1966, The Three Lions have had some underwhelming displays during qualifying for Qatar 2022.

England sit top of Group I in the automatic qualification spot, but only have a three-point cushion to second place following 1-1 draws against Poland and Hungary last time out.

Captain Harry Kane's form has come under question as a potential issue, but so has the midfield, with England lacking some control in the more low profile qualifiers.

talkSPORT pundit Danny Mills feels that despite Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips' excellent performances during the summer, England are still in need of a high-end midfield talent.

"I look at that team and as good as they are there isn't a Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard," Mills said.

"I think the biggest problem for England is we have an incredible lot of young attacking talent, some fantastic players, but we don't have a single player that can dictate the tempo.

"I'm talking about a [Andrea] Pirlo type player, or a Jorginho, a Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit.

"Someone who is always available, and they dictate what happens, they dictate the tempo of the play, they dictate the style of play, we don't have that type of player in the ranks."