Ledley King's Selection Surely Doesn't Fit With Capello's Long Term Strategy

Fabio Capello has made the biggest shock of his tenure as England manager by selecting Tottenham Hotsphur captain Ledley King in his latest squad for the friendly against Slovakia and World Cup Qualifier against Ukraine.

King has consistently been hampered by injury problems, mainly to a troublesome knee has which has time and time again ruled King out of crucial league and cup games while at Spurs, but King has some how overcome all those troubles to take his place in this current England squad.

King has had his fair share of International experience, replacing an injured John Terry in the side as England were overcome 2-1 in there opening group game against France in Euro 2004

His performance in that game and in the previous season had established King as one of the countries top defenders ahead of the likes of Jonathan Woodgate and Matthew Upson.

However a crucial injury came in April of 2006 as the centre-back fractured his foot, a setback that kept him out of that years World Cup tournament.

From then on injuries have disrupted the defenders progress, which has seen him slip down the pecking order for the international team.

The last two seasons have seen King in and out of the Tottenham starting eleven, playing barely half of the sides games every season, climaxing in the player being rested for the remainder of last season to rest the persistent injury.

King's plight was confirmed soon after the appointment of Harry Redknapp, when the new manager admitted King couldn't last the pace of an entire Premiership season.

"There's no cure. There's no cartilage, nothing to operate on. It's just bone on bone. So it's just a question of managing it. It swells up after games and it normally takes seven days to recover. He rarely trains, he mostly just goes to the gym to keep himself ticking over. But not running or anything like that. But even if he only plays 20 games a season, he's worth having because he's so good we have a much better chance of winning."

And now after continuous injury problems, King has found himself included in Fabio Capello's most recent England squad having played less than half of his teams games this season.

The inclusion has raised eyebrows across the football world non-more so than King's manager Redknapp, who would have preferred the Spurs skipper could be left to focus on his club career.

Such views that have not been followed by Capello, who has shown that Premiership managers will not sway his personal selection, unlike his predecessors.

The defenders inclusion also creates the question of whether the Spurs player could contend with an international tournament.

With so many games in such a short space of time, King in his current state would surely only be able to manage one if any in such a short space of time.

And with the selection of Ben Foster in one of the three goalkeeping positions Capello is clearly looking to the future, which surely King isn't part of if his injury problems continue, something that has seen sign of letting up.

The consistent trend of looking to the future has been commendable by Capello, but this latest inclusion surely defies all of that previous work.

How King can be looked upon as the future of England is pretty far-fetched, and even at the tender age of 28 his inability to play more than a game per week and his problems with contact training doesn't help his cause either.

Fair play to Capello, he has diversified with his selection, and everyone has been given a fair go but what has the likes of Phil Jagielka done wrong not to warrant a third cap?

King's performances have never been called into question and when fit he is one of the best players in his position, but that when is far to infrequent, and surely to sporadic to deserve international recognition.