Gareth Southgate has claimed he was trying to 'protect' Trent Alexander-Arnold when he dropped him from his England squad back in March.
The Liverpool full-back was dropped by Southgate for his side’s World Cup qualification triple-header back in March.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp questioned Southgate’s decision, insisting there is no better player to unlock deep defences than the 'standout right-back in world football'.
However, after a fine end to the season for the Anfield club, the 22-year-old has been recalled by Southgate in his provisional squad for this summer's European Championship.
"Trent is very much in contention," Southgate responded when asked if the Reds star was the most likely of the right-back options to miss out.
"People tend to think I don’t think Trent is a good footballer, that just isn’t the case. He has indirectly come in from some criticism at a certain time and I felt the need to communicate more with him than anyone else over the past couple of months but I think his performances have been very good.
"I don’t mind the criticism of my decisions, that’s part and parcel of it. But he is a young player we have got to look after and care for.
"I’m a little bit surprised by some of the things that have been written about that because people just don’t know those communications that have gone on. But that is credit to Trent that he has kept that to himself."
Before Southgate continued on the criticism he received back in March: "In the end perhaps people didn’t like my rationale but in my own way I was trying to protect the player. In the end maybe that didn’t work.
"When you make a decision like I’ve made, of course there’s going to be ramifications to that. I accept that.
“But I didn’t want the player to suffer. That’s not the relationship I’ve had with him since he’s been 17.
"He is a very good footballer, that has never been in any doubt, and he’s with us next week and we go from there."
Alexander-Arnold has been named in Southgate’s 33-man provisional squad for this summer's rearranged tournament.
That number will get cut to 26 by 1 June, with Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker and Reece James also having been included in the group.
But Southgate has suggested that the Reds Academy graduate could operate in midfield for his side this summer.
"I think there is no doubt he could," he said when asked about the possibility of Alexander-Arnold playing in midfield.
"Of course the difficulty is he hasn’t had the opportunity to do that since he was a younger player and that’s where he came through in Liverpool’s academy.
"He’s a fantastic passer of the ball and he has great passing vision. So he’s a playmaker from right-back, that’s kind of what he is. So why wouldn’t that lend itself at some point of his career to being in midfield?
"But Jurgen has got fantastic performances out of him in the role he has with the structure of the team the way they have, so I’m sure he’s not thinking of needing to change that. But he’s capable in the same way that Reece played in midfield at Wigan.
"I saw him slot in there for 35 minutes the other day for Chelsea, absolutely no problem. These boys are outstanding footballers.
"They’re better in some of those other positions than other options we would have had and that’s why we’ve picked them."
