Paul Scholes believes the attitude of some 'selfish' international stars continues to hold England back.
The 36-year-old, who has recently slipped into retirement, won 66 caps for his country over the course of a glittering career.
The Manchester United midfielder slipped out of the scene after Euro 2004, with his decision to call time on his international commitments coming as a surprise to many.
It was suggested that he had grown disillusioned with being played out of position with England, with then boss Sven-Goran Eriksson often asking him to fill a role wide on the left.
Scholes, though, claims he had merely become 'fed up' with the attitude of some of his international colleagues - with many seeing the Three Lions as a stepping stone to bigger and better things.
He said:
"I just got fed up. When you are going to a team, you want to be part of a team and play well, but there are individuals who are after personal glory.
"I always felt when I first started with England that players - especially players at clubs like your Aston Villas - try to use England as a way to get to a top club. You feel, are they there for the right reason?
"I think they are very selfish people. They are all there to get their bit of glory, their bit of headlines, to think 'I will get a move from this'. I think that is the biggest problem with English players."
Frustration
Having been a key part of the Manchester United side through their dominance of the Premier League era, Scholes admits he and his Old Trafford team-mates would come away from England camps frustrated.
He also says it is 'laughable' that Fabio Capello's current side are still rated amongst the favourites to win major tournaments, and believes they will not do so until they start to mirror the selfless ethos of World and European champions Spain.
"It was a frustration for us United lads," he added of spending time in the camp with other players.
"When there is a simple pass of 10 yards, they might try and smack it 80 yards. They will do things to try and get themselves noticed.
"If you look at the Spain team now, they all seem to play for each other. There isn't one of them who would try to do something in a game that doesn't suit the team. And that could happen over here.
"If you look through our teams, there are loads of technically brilliant players but for some reason when we go on to the international scene, we don't look like that.
"We're the favourites every time and we probably will be next time. I think it is quite laughable. It is just the mentality of English people, we think we are going to win everything."
