Nico O’Reilly is a ‘given’ to start at the World Cup, but he is not England’s best left-back

Nico O’Reilly’s stock continues to rise at a rapid rate, so much so that Scott Minto believes he will start for England at the World Cup.

However, the former Chelsea defender is not so sure O’Reilly is the best left-back eligible for the Three Lions.

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O’Reilly was a standout for Manchester City as they thrashed Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium to book a spot in the FA Cup semi-finals.

O’Reilly rips in to Reds

The 21-year-old provided the assist for Erling Haaland’s third goal of the afternoon and won a penalty in the first-half.

With his back to goal in Liverpool’s 18-yard box, O’Reilly received the ball on his right foot but sucked Reds skipper Virgil van Dijk in tight.

As he looked to spin back onto his left foot, O’Reilly drew in a clumsy challenge from the usually-composed Van Dijk and gave referee Michael Oliver an easy choice to make.

Haaland made no mistake from the resulting penalty as he sent Reds goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili the wrong way from the spot.

For City’s fourth, O’Reilly was slipped into the box by a neat pass from Jeremy Doku before he got the ball from underneath his feet and squared it for Haaland, who slammed his effort off the underside of the crossbar and into the net in the 57th minute.

It capped off a fine all-round performance from City as O’Reilly issued a timely reminder of his impressive abilities as a left-back.

The City ace couldn’t have timed his performance any better either as England boss Thomas Tuchel prepares to name his World Cup squad in the coming months.

Minto: O’Reilly has been ‘sensational’

O’Reilly is certainly in Tuchel’s thoughts given he was named in the 35-man team for the latest international break and started their 1-0 loss to Japan.

Given O’Reilly only made his senior international debut last November, simply making the World Cup squad would be an enormous achievement.

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But Minto believes the 21-year-old is destined for a more important role, even if one of his positional rivals may be more of an overall package.

“I think he is a given to actually start at the World Cup in the 11,” Minto said on talkSPORT.

Nico O’Reilly has just been sensational. But, I think the better left-back is Lewis Hall. But I’m not sure Lewis Hall can necessarily do what Nico O’Reilly did there in terms of winning the penalty.

“You could argue that was the game changer. Getting into the box, the way that he turned, the way that he brought in an experienced player like Virgil van Dijk to make a tackle which he shouldn’t be doing in the box.

“So for him to have one, the ability, two, the presence and three, the technical ability to do what he did, is absolutely sensational.

“I’m just not sure Thomas Tuchel will want him to get into the box in the way Pep wants him to get into the box.”

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Not having it Hall his own way

Minto isn’t the only talkSPORT pundit who believes O’Reilly has all but locked up a spot in Tuchel’s starting line-up at the World Cup.

Speaking on the talkSPORT Daily podcast, Stuart Pearce, Jim Proudfoot and Adrian Durham all opted for O’Reilly over Hall to start at left-back.

However, with England’s World Cup opener against Croatia not until June 17, there’s plenty of time for Hall to usurp O’Reilly in Tuchel’s thinking.