Former Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt has questioned Roy Hodgson's treatment of Rio Ferdinand and believes that the player was badly missed by England.

Ferdinand, who last appeared for his country in the summer of 2011, withdrew from the Three Lions squad last week prior to their disappointing 1-1 draw at Montenegro.

Butt has defended his old teammate and feels that Hodgson has dealt with the issue poorly.

"He was missed against Montenegro. Rio is a massive player. I think he has been missed ever since he was left out of the squad. It baffles me that he has not been in the squad for the previous 10, 11 games," Butt told talkSPORT.

"It's left a sour taste in everyone's mouth that he is not there. There are reasons for that. There a lot of things that go on in club football that people don't know about. There's a lot of hard work that goes into keeping players of that age fit and playing week in, week out.

"It's easy to say he's let his country down or he doesn't want to play for England. But, believe me, that is not the case with Rio. He wants to play for his country. He is passionate about playing for his country.

"He manages his body the way he does in order to play games for Man United. If hadn't done that, then he wouldn't have got the recall anyway. Lessons need to be learned on how to communicate with players of that age and that experience and get them into the squad. This could have been easily avoided."

Ferdinand has 81 caps to his name.