Gareth Southgate has made the ruthless decision to cut Jack Grealish from England’s Euro 2024 squad and will be without Harry Maguire for the tournament because of a calf injury.
The manager, who had already dropped James Maddison and Curtis Jones from his provisional 33-man squad, has also left out the goalkeeper James Trafford and two more defenders in Jarrad Branthwaite and Jarell Quansah to create a final 26. The squad includes the Crystal Palace midfielders Adam Wharton, who made his England debut against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday, and Eberechi Eze.
Grealish, who has had a disappointing season at Manchester City, has failed to dislodge rivals players in attacking midfield. The loss of Maguire is a huge blow to Southgate given the defender’s importance to England in past tournaments. Marc Guéhi has been the first back-up centre half behind Maguire and John Stones.
Southgate’s other options in that position will be Ezri Konsa, Joe Gomez and Lewis Dunk. The omission of Branthwaite and Quansah means Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins will travel to Germany as back-up to Harry Kane.
Southgate emphasised that Maguire’s absence was down to injury and said: “Harry has made some progress but it’s been complicated and we definitely wouldn’t have had him in the group stage and there were too many hurdles to get through without being clear where would get to.”
Shaw has been picked despite not having played since February 18th but he is training – he and Dunk followed individual programmes on Thursday – and Southgate said including the first-choice left back was “a risk worth taking”. He said there was hope Shaw could play some part in the second group game.
The manager said the response of the seven players who missed out had been “amazing” and said of leaving out Grealish and Maddison: “We just feel other players have had stronger seasons, particular over the last six months or so. We saw some performances the other night [against Bosnia] that underlined that.”
Southgate had hinted that only one of Watkins and Toney would be selected but has chosen both and said their “different attributes and different strengths” could be important.
Maguire had tweeted the news of his absence, writing: “I am devastated not to have been selected to play for England at the Euros this summer. Despite my best efforts, I have not been able to overcome an injury to my calf. Maybe I pushed myself too hard, to try and make it. Simply, I am absolutely gutted.
“For me, representing England is the highest honour. It means everything to me. If I can’t help the team as a player, I will support them as a fan – along with the rest of the country. Go and win it boys. Next, I will return to the supervision of the Manchester United medical team in order to prepare for next season.”
Maddison also described himself as devastated but accepted his form had not been strong enough to demand inclusion. He wrote on social media: “Trained well and worked hard all week but if I’m honest with myself, my form for Spurs when coming back from injury in the second half of the season probably wasn’t at the levels I had set which gave Gareth a decision to make.”
Maddison and Maguire are among 13 of the 26-man World Cup squad from 2022 who have not been selected for the Euros. – Guardian
England squad for Euro 2024
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal).
Defenders: Lewis Dunk (Brighton & Hove Albion), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Marc Guéhi (Crystal Palace), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United), Kyle Walker (Manchester City).
Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace).
Forwards: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
Players dropped from 33-man provisional squad: Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), James Maddison (Tottenham Hotspur), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), James Trafford (Burnley), Curtis Jones (Liverpool) and Jarell Quansah (Liverpool).
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024
