embrace.

An unnamed source close to the squad told the Sun that England's bling-bling stars were "gutted" that clean-cut, middle-of-the-road indie band Embrace were chosen to pen their World Cup anthem, as they wanted a bad ass rapper instead.

Rather than drawing up a tactical masterplan to bring the trophy back to England for the first time since 1966, the players have apparently been spending a great deal of time in recent months deciding on the more pressing issue of who should record their tune.

And according to the insider, the consensus was for US hip hop impresario and part-time political commentator Kanye West, famed for his love of girls, god and glamour.

Imagine their dismay, then, when music consultant Chris Nathanial, who had been drafted in to choose the artist, chose to overlook Chicago b-boy Kanye and instead plumped for the somewhat more down-to-earth Huddersfield quartet.

"A leading music consultant was paid good money to make sure an artist was chosen who the players would respect and be willing to work with," the source told the newspaper.

"Kanye West got a resounding thumbs-up and moves were made to get him on board.

"The players were gutted when they found out the FA wanted to stay British and Kanye had been snubbed."

England stars Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney are all self-confessed hip-hop aficionados, while England skipper David 'Straight outta Leyton' Beckham named his two dogs after his favourite rappers Snoop and Puffy.

Ferdinand and Rooney are also currently working on a MC battle-based TV show, Hip Hop Idol.

Still, while the squad may be less-than-enamoured with Embrace, it could have been much worse.