5 Premier League stars who won't be featuring in the 2018 World Cup

#2 Georginio Wijnaldum

Wijnaldum started every qualifier

Club: Liverpool | Country: Netherlands | Caps: 42 | Goals: 8

Netherlands are a side who finished 3rd in the 2014 World Cup and runners-up at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa yet they failed to qualify for the European Championships last year and now they’ve failed to qualify for the second major tournament in succession.

That’s not to say they had a straightforward group, because they didn’t, it was one that contained France and Sweden, so it was never going to be a walk in the park, however, you’d think with the amount of quality they have amongst their ranks, they would have at least made the playoffs.

They dropped points four times this campaign, losing twice to group winners France which you can accept (as this France side are on fire), drawing to Sweden in Stockholm which is a credible point and again acceptable. The other match they dropped points was in Sofia away at Bulgaria where they went down to two goals in the first half and had no way back, if they had even got a point there, they would have finished above Sweden and made the playoffs.

Wijnaldum, who started every qualifier, chipped in with one goal throughout the campaign which came against Luxembourg and despite the fact they failed to qualify, he will be pleased with how much he established himself amongst the starting eleven for the Netherlands, something which holds him in good stead in the coming qualifying campaigns.