Gareth Southgate has defended his decision to leave out Jonjo Shelvey from England’s 23-man squad for this summer’s World Cup in Russia, suggesting that the player’s “style of play”, and not his temperament, was the determining factor.

Despite impressing in recent months for Newcastle, the midfielder has been overlooked by Southgate and joins the likes of Joe Hart and Jack Wilshere as notable high-profile absentees.

Southgate’s apprehensions over Shelvey have been put down to the 26-year-old’s temperament, with concerns raised over the player’s poor disciplinary record.

But the England manager dismissed such suggestions in his World Cup press conference on Thursday. Instead, he stressed that the right “style of play” was required of his players.

“We’ve watched a lot of games this year myself and Steve Holland,” he said. “We know all of the English players in the league; their strengths and weaknesses, and the players we’ve picked are ahead of the ones we haven’t.

“In terms of temperament: we assess someone on the way they fit into the way we want to play. Some of our finest players: [Steven] Gerrard, and others who were not out like [Patrick] Vieira and [Roy] Keane have more red cards than most so we can’t just pick players who don’t get booked.

“It’s not the primary factor for us. It’s how their style of play fits, do they have the attributes to play in our system.”

Jonjo Shelvey has impressed for Newcastle in recent weeks ( Getty )

Southgate was equally candid regarding Wilshere’s omission from the squad, revealing that the Arsenal midfielder was simply not “effective” enough in the closing stages of the Premier League.

“Jack Wilshere has of course been in our thoughts,” he added. “We selected him in March but he hasn’t played a game for us.

“We’ve been pleased with the players who played in November and March. The only midfielder we added is Fabian Delph who had a fantastic season with the champions.