James once graced England squads that featured the likes of Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes. Plenty of selection posers were faced back then, and nothing has changed down the years.
The Three Lions famously failed to make the most of having Tottenham legend Hoddle at their disposal in the 1980s, while the mercurial talents of Gazza were ignored – by Hoddle – at the 1998 World Cup.
Pressed on whether England have historically mismanaged players that other countries would have made cornerstones of their respective teams, James added: “Let me just think about success. First of all, we had no success with those players and their ultimate success, i.e. winning trophies.
“I think when you look at successful world teams, you’re talking about exceptional talent. I’m not saying Jude Bellingham hasn’t got exceptional talent, but France, (Zinedine) Zidane, (Andres) Iniesta for Spain, Lionel Messi for Argentina. But then I would say that they were exceptional in an era, head and shoulders better than anyone else in their respective eras.
“As highly talented as Jude is, and we’ve already seen in the World Cup the quality of player that they’re coming up against, they’re at such a high level now, I think the idea of depending on one person to try and give you success now just doesn’t work.
“Therefore, you can use them, get the best out of them at certain times, but then you have to adapt to a different strategy, using different players. I think that’s what England have got at the moment, the balance with the quality that we don’t have to depend on one player.”
