Neville, capped 59 times by England, branded the mass withdrawals as'disgraceful' and dismissed the idea that they were being put underpressure by their clubs.
He said: 'It saddens me that as the England manager is looking tobuild a fresh, young team, people are pulling out of the Under-21s.
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?'I find it disgraceful and I am ashamed that players who have dropped down from the senior England team are pulling out of an Under-21 friendly.
'Jamie Carragher and James Milner played dozens of times for the Under-21s and they got their rewards.'
Among the 11 withdrawals from Pearce's squad for Italy were Chris Smalling (Manchester United), Jordan Henderson (Sunderland), Micah Richards (Manchester City) and Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal).
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Source: Daily Mail
Source: Daily Mail