England manager Gareth Southgate has announced his final 26-man squad ahead of Euro 2024 in Germany.
The Three Lions boss initially called upon 33 players but had to make significant cuts by the June 7 deadline, at which point teams must submit a squad of at least 23 and up to 26 players for the Championships, and he ultimately axed seven men from his ranks.
England's Euro 2024 campaign will commence on June 16 with a tie against Group C rivals Serbia, before Denmark and Slovenia await on June 20 and June 25 respectively.
Prior to the Euros, Southgate's side defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 at St James' Park on June 3 in their first friendly, before surprisingly going down 1-0 to Iceland at Wembley on June 7 in their final tune-up fixture.
Southgate named a troupe brimming with both experience and youthful talent, with a few notable omissions both from the original 33-man selection and the final 26-man troupe.
Adam Wharton, Kobbie Mainoo among young players included
Aaron Ramsdale's lack of Arsenal minutes have not impacted his standing as Jordan Pickford's number two, while Dean Henderson benefits from an injury to Crystal Palace teammate Sam Johnstone to make the cut as well.
Despite Jack Butland's impressive performances for Rangers, Burnley's James Trafford - who lost his place in the Clarets lineup towards the end of the season - is selected as Southgate's fourth preliminary goalkeeper but was unsurprisingly one of the players sacrificed for the actual tournament.
Defensive stalwarts in Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Marc Guehi and Lewis Dunk were initially selected, as was Luke Shaw, despite the Manchester United man's severe lack of action in recent months due to injury.
In spite of admitting that Shaw was a "long shot" due to his muscular injury, Southgate included the left-back in his ranks for the final competition while expelling Maguire, who was unable to shake off a calf problem in time for the tournament and admitted to being "devastated" at the fact.
Southgate also called up a trio of Merseyside-based rearguard members for his training squad, including Liverpool pairing Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah and Jarrad Branthwaite, who excelled for Everton in 2023-24, but only the former survived the June 6 cull.
Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa also made the 26-man squad after helping the Lions qualify for the Champions League, but there is no room for Chelsea trio Levi Colwill, Reece James and Ben Chilwell; the latter two are left to lament their frequent fitness problems.
AC Milan's Fikayo Tomori was also overlooked, while Arsenal right-back Ben White - who was revealed earlier this year to have made himself unavailable for selection - will not represent his nation at the Euros either.
Marcus Rashford, Jordan Henderson snubbed
Just six players were included in the midfield troupe, including Liverpool vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, his teammate Curtis Jones and Manchester United's Kobbie Mainoo, who put in two brilliant shifts in his first two England appearances in March, but Jones has now been dropped.
After playing a fundamental role in Crystal Palace's phenomenal end to the campaign, Adam Wharton will be present in Germany and benefits from the absence of Ajax's Jordan Henderson, whom Southgate had previously shown unwavering loyalty to amid heavy criticism of his Saudi Arabia transfer.
As expected, there was no room for Euro 2020 regular Kalvin Phillips, while Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham was listed as one of 12 attackers before being put down as a midfielder for the Euros, while Chelsea's Cole Palmer, Tottenham Hotspur's James Maddison and Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze also made the first 33.
However, both Maddison and Manchester City's Jack Grealish were omitted from the final selection, while Marcus Rashford did not even make the provisional 33, having suffered a marked domestic decline in a Manchester United shirt this season.
Both Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney will act as understudies to Harry Kane at the European Championships, meaning that Dominic Solanke was also omitted despite conjuring up 19 Premier League goals for Bournemouth in 2023-24.
England Euro 2024 squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal)
Defenders: Lewis Dunk (Brighton & Hove Albion), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Marc Guehi (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), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace)
Forwards: 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)
Manager - Gareth Southgate
Will he stay? Will he go? The question on the lips of many Three Lions fans as Gareth Southgate OBE takes the reins for yet another major tournament in charge of his country, whom he has taken so close yet so far to international and continental stardom.
Coming up to eight years in the job since replacing Sam Allardyce in farcical circumstances, some members of the jury are still out on the former Middlesbrough head coach and England international, who has long been accused of being overly cautious and failing to get the best out of England's glittering talents.
However, the nation has been allowed to dream again thanks to the efforts of Southgate and his coaching team, who have masterminded a World Cup semi-final and Euro 2020 final, even if both matches ended with the Three Lions cutting inconsolable figures on the field.
An underwhelming World Cup 2022 quarter-final exit did not impact Southgate's standing with the FA, whom he is under contract with until the end of the calendar year, but speculation over his long-term Three Lions future continues to rage.
Manchester United have supposedly taken a liking to the 53-year-old, who is yet to become 'Sir Gareth', but leading England to a first-ever Euros crown could very well see Southgate bestowed with that honorific address.
Star player - Harry Kane
While Jude Bellingham gets a mention, this one was pretty obvious. Even though Harry Kane uncharacteristically missed a sitter in the Iceland defeat - sending a gilt-edged chance over the bar from just a few yards out - there is no questioning his status as the best goalscorer his nation as ever seen.
Leaving Ellen White and Wayne Rooney in his wake in 2023, the Three Lions skipper's record-breaking feats in a Tottenham Hotspur jersey were not enough to end the Lilywhites' barren run without a trophy, and a similar story arose in Bayern Munich colours.
When Kane's switch to Munich was confirmed, many a joke was made about Bayern finally losing their grip on Bundesliga supremacy after 11 years of dominance, and true enough, FC Hollywood submitted to Bayer Leverkusen's superiority, in spite of Kane's 36 top-flight strikes.
Now well into his 30s without a single team honour to his name, the hankering for silverware burns all the brighter in Kane's belly, giving defences yet another reason to fear the striker who can do it all.
Form
Following a 2022 best consigned to the back pages of the FA's annals, as England suffered Nations League demotion before another World Cup failure, the Three Lions' more recent exploits from 2023 and 2024 have reignited optimism for the summer tournament.
From eight Euro 2024 qualifiers against Italy, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta, England dropped just four points from a possible 24 en route to a first-placed finish, earning two slices of revenge over the reigning European champions along the way and also hitting North Macedonia for seven at Old Trafford.
However, Southgate has now overseen a three-match winless run heading into the period of summer friendlies, as after ending their Euros group with a 1-1 draw versus North Macedonia, England fell to Brazil's superiority at Wembley courtesy of a solitary strike from Real Madrid-bound teenager Endrick.
A last-gasp Bellingham intervention was then required to salvage a 2-2 draw with Belgium, and the Three Lions also started slowly against Bosnia on June 3 before Palmer, Alexander-Arnold and Kane struck in a 3-0 success.
England were made to pay for a horrendous attacking display versus Iceland, though, going down 1-0 to their Euro 2016 conquerors at Wembley to deplete their morale levels a tad before heading off to Germany.
Group and fixtures
June 16: Serbia 0-1 England (Veltins-Arena) - 21:00 (20:00 BST)
June 20: Denmark 1-1 England (5pm | Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt)
June 25: England vs. Slovenia (8pm | RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne)
Expected XI
Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Alexander-Arnold, Rice; Saka, Bellingham, Foden; Kane
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