England were handed what on paper would appear to be a kind group when the 2018 World Cup draw was made in December.Gareth Southgate’s side will face Tunisia, Panama and Belgium in June and are currently priced at around 18/1 with most bookmakers.England looked decent in the last batch of friendlies - beating the Netherlands and drawing with Italy - and Southgate will now have a much clearer idea in his mind about which players will make his 23-man squad.One player unlikely to make the cut, regardless of his performances at club level, is Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey.The 26-year-old has made six appearances for the Three Lions since 2012, the last of which came against France back in 2015.He hasn’t got a look in under Southgate, who doesn’t seem to fancy the midfielder for whatever reason.However, Shelvey scored his first Premier League goal of the season against Leicester City on Saturday and Danny Murphy is firmly of the belief that no English footballer possesses a better range of passing than the former Liverpool player.

Murphy drops his honest opinion about Shelvey

“I think he is - purely based on football in the central midfield area of English talent - he’s our best passer of the ball by a long, long way in terms of opening up terms who sit off,” Murphy said on talkSPORT.

“And we’ve got a lot of teams that we’re going to be playing against at the World Cup who will put numbers behind the ball. He can get the ball from anywhere on the pitch and open you up.”

Asked if England can trust Shelvey, Murphy continued: “It doesn’t matter! Could you trust Dele Alli not to two-foot someone or do something stupid? In the World Cup it’s a pressurised situation.

“I say it doesn’t matter, it does matter, but he’s shown that you can trust him more recently."

'He's a better passer than Wilshere'

He added: “What I would say is maybe not from the start necessarily but if you’re looking at the bench, who’s going to open this team up, think about the Iceland game and things like that. Who’s going to come on and play a through ball?

“Jack [Wilshere] can do it but he doesn’t do it as well as Shelvey. Shelvey is the best passer we’ve got in midfield. Defensively he’s not as good as others but I think in terms of his array of passing, he’s our best.”

A big shout? Well, is there an English footballer with a better range of passing than Shelvey right now?

Murphy’s point is actually very difficult to argue with.

Shelvey is perhaps a little underrated because of his disciplinary record and the fact he’s playing for Newcastle, rather than one of the Premier League’s top clubs.

But when it comes to opening up teams with incisive passes, few English players - if any - are better than the Romford-born midfielder.

Is there another English player with better passing ability than Jonjo Shelvey? Have your say by leaving a comment below.