The official squad announcement before a major tournament is international football’s equivalent to transfer deadline day. Only in England’s case, fans across the country are often glued to their screens to discover little more than who will win the battle to be the third-choice goalkeeper.
The Football Association (FA) had planned to have its Euro 2024 squad announcement at 2pm on Tuesday. Unfortunately, footballers are about as leaky as Old Trafford’s dilapidated roof. A steady drip of pre-2pm information slowly became a torrent.
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Perhaps inevitably, news of a call-up gets shared immediately — Champagne must be iced, booked holidays cancelled. Similarly, those players who do not make the cut are sometimes the first to know — and to make their grievances heard. Long before Gareth Southgate sat down to face the media, most of them already knew who he’d picked. And hadn’t.
This time, it is actually a relatively — and unusually — newsworthy squad. There are five uncapped players in the provisional 33-man group. There is the Merseyside trio of Jarrad Branthwaite, Jarell Quansah and Curtis Jones. Adam Wharton is a surprise pick from Crystal Palace. The inclusion of James Trafford, dropped by relegation-bound Burnley during the season, was another that stood out.
But it is worth remembering this is not the final squad of 26. That quintet of newbies have only reached the “judges’ houses” stage of the process.
Although Southgate’s selection showed more imagination than we are accustomed to, there was no truly jaw-dropping pick. Veteran England fans will remember Steve Bull being selected for the 1990 World Cup while playing in the third tier, or Theo Walcott being called up for the 2006 version while still legally a child.
The biggest headlines will be generated by the absence of two former Southgate perennials, Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson.
Presumably, leaving out Rashford was the manager’s attempt to demonstrate he is truly ready for the Manchester United job.
Midfielder Henderson’s omission, meanwhile, felt like the last act of some morality play — a Shakespearean tragedy warning of the dangers of avarice, ignorance and playing for quite a bad Ajax team.
On paper, the squad doesn’t look particularly balanced. The FA’s announcement graphic listed 11 defenders, 12 forwards and just six midfielders — one of whom, Trent Alexander-Arnold, is very much a defender.
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Are Jude Bellingham and Eberechi Eze really more forward than midfielder? Is Alexander-Arnold actually going to play in the centre, or is the FA just trying to avoid jokes about how many right-backs Southgate continues to select?
“I have to write a list and these guys (the FA media team) put a heading on it,” said Southgate, peeling back the curtain for an enthralled public. “We should just have forwards and backs, it would be a lot easier.” It turns out Southgate is more of a rugby guy.
GO DEEPERSouthgate finally gets ruthless - now England's new generation must step upIf there is an area where England are lacking in proven international class, it’s surely at centre-back.
Southgate’s defensive selections here do have the air of panic, like a hapless husband fumbling for gifts in a petrol station on Christmas Eve. In the absence of a convincing set of centre-halves, he has taken a ‘more is more’ approach. Branthwaite, Ezri Konsa and Quansah have enjoyed good seasons, but are unknown quantities at this level. At full-back, Luke Shaw hasn’t played since February — but he is left-footed, so he’s in.
The number of defenders selected makes the omission of Eric Dier somewhat curious. He’s the only English defender to have played both legs of this season’s Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals, yet he was overlooked. “He’s played very, very well for Bayern (Munich),” admitted Southgate. “We think he’s just behind the other guys we’ve selected.” If that’s true, perhaps this summer will see Bayern plotting an ambitious move for Lewis Dunk.
And then there’s the continued absence of one of England’s finest defenders, Ben White. Southgate confirmed he had not spoken to White during the selection process, saying: “As far as I am aware, he’s not available to us.” Thanks to this England regime, White’s primary international allegiance is now to his holidays in Dubai.
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The training squad will play two friendlies in early June. In preparation for facing Serbia and Denmark in two of their three group matches at the Euros, England have arranged games against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iceland. The FA continues to be led by the age-old rule that countries who are near each other on a map all play an identical brand of football — this despite different cultures, formations, managers and players.
Presumably, it’s after those games that Southgate will make his final selection of up to 26 players — when we’ll find out whether the likes of Braithwaite and Wharton make it past boot camp and into the live finals.
The show goes on.
England squad in full
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, James Trafford. Defenders: Jarrad Branthwaite, Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Harry Maguire, Jarell Quansah, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker. Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Gallagher, Curtis Jones, Kobbie Mainoo, Adam Wharton, Declan Rice. Forwards: Jude Bellingham, Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, James Maddison, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins.
Key dates:
June 4: vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (friendly)
June 7: vs Iceland (friendly)
June 7: Final Euro 2024 squad submitted
June 16: vs Serbia (Euro 2024 group C)
June 20: vs Denmark (Euro 2024 group C)
June 25: vs Slovenia (Euro 2024 group C)
(Top photo: Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
James McNicholas has covered Arsenal extensively for more than a decade. He has written for ESPN, Bleacher Report and FourFourTwo Magazine, and is the co-host of the Arsecast Extra Podcast. Follow James on Twitter @gunnerblog
