Sir Alex Ferguson: Rio Ferdinand's England career is over

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he does not expect defender Rio Ferdinand to play for the England national team again.

Despite having won 81 caps at international level, the centre-back was left out of his country's squad for Euro 2012 and snubbed again when Gary Cahill dropped out due to injury.

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Manager Roy Hodgson insisted that he had selected his squad based on footballing reasons but Ferdinand aired his frustrations on his Twitter account, with speculation that he had been omitted due to the dispute between John Terry and Ferdinand's brother, Anton.

"I don't think [Ferdinand will play for England again]. I can't see it. It's not on his agenda either," Ferguson told reporters.

"He's 33 now and wants to be fit for us. As a centre-back if you look after yourself you should play until you're 37.

"Rio had a terrific season for us last season. He probably played his best football for us for a long time because he was playing quite regularly. The last two years he'd been playing for a week, out three weeks, then coming back.

"Him and Jonny Evans hit a bit of form together that carried from December right through to February and March."

With club captain Nemanja Vidic set to return to the squad this season after spending the majority of last campaign out with a knee injury, Ferdinand faces stiff competition to play as often as he did last term.