England star, Harry Maguire, has expressed misgivings about being dropped from the team’s squad for Euro 2024.
When Gareth Southgate unveiled his new-look England squad of 26 men for Euro 2024 this week Thursday, several high-profile stars were left out.
He said: “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 #mufc medical team in order to prepare for next season”.
Manchester City’s Jack Grealish, Manchester United’s Harry Maguire and Tottenham’s James Maddison were all missing, along with Liverpool duo Curtis Jones and Jarell Quansah, and Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite and Burnley’s James Trafford.
Maguire’s absence was largely explained by a calf injury which Southgate said would have “definitely” ruled him out of the group stages. Grealish and Maddison were overlooked in favour of including younger attacking options, including Newcastle’s Antony Gordon and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, with United’s Kobbie Mainoo and Crystal Palace duo Adam Wharton and Eberechi Eze selected despite their inexperience at this highest level.
With Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips also not selected after previously playing key roles during Southgate’s eight years in charge, the Three Lions boss is mindful of the team bonding required during preparations, which continue with Friday’s final warm-up game against Iceland at Wembley.
“Of course, we [have] a lot of changes from Qatar if you go back as far as that,” said Southgate, who planned to hold a team meeting on Thursday night to help draw a line under a difficult week of uncertainty within the group.
“The decision on picking a squad is always a moment in time. Sometimes you perhaps regenerate the group more than you were expecting a couple of months ago but that has already brought a hunger, a competitiveness and the key now is we have to bond as a group.
“There are some players who have been with us a long time where those bonds are really strong and we’ve got to find that. The group have got to work together. They’ve got to realise that when we pick teams, the 15 who are disappointed will be key each match to us doing well because a lot of them are going to come into the game.
“The atmosphere around the hotel, the way we are around the training ground, these are the key things that are a success in tournaments.
“So, some of the guys haven’t experienced that at senior level. We’ve got some junior World Cup winners in that group and junior Euros winners so they’ve got tournament experience and we’ve got good guys, really good professionals in that group so I’m not concerned about that but it is part of what we’ve got to work on over the coming weeks.”
Luke Shaw was selected despite not playing since Feb. 18 due to a hamstring problem and Southgate continued: “At the moment, we think he can have some involvement in the second group game.
“But of course, you’ve got to keep hitting the markers. He’s had a good volume of work operating at good speeds as well. I think you can take one gamble and that’s the gamble that we’ve got enough evidence to believe it can pay off.”
ENGLAND SQUAD FOR 2024 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP:
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale
Defenders: Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker
Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Gallagher, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice, Adam Wharton
Forwards: Jude Bellingham, Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins
