The runners and riders are in. Gareth Southgate has named a long, long list of players who could play for England at the European Championship this summer.
While pre-tournament favourites such as France and Portugal have gone straight in with a squad of 26, the maximum permitted number, Southgate said on Tuesday when revealing his preliminary 33-strong party that he will benefit from having more time to decide.
Why? Primarily a load of injury and fitness issues, but also an opportunity to look at some young whippersnappers who may make the final cut.
So whose place on the plane is already secure? And who should be looking at Dubai flight times for a mid-June holiday instead? Let The Athletic wildly speculate.
1) Jude Bellingham
On the plane? This guy probably has a pilot’s licence and will fly everyone to Germany. There is nothing he cannot do.
2) Jordan Pickford
Southgate’s undisputed No 1 for almost six years now (he cemented his place at the 2018 World Cup) and as “on the plane” as stuffy air and an annoying toddler sat behind you, kicking your seat.
3) Kyle Walker
Manchester City’s title-winning captain is likely to become England’s most-capped right-back ever during this summer’s tournament. Walker is currently on 82, three behind Gary Neville.
4) John Stones
Stones only started one of Manchester City’s final 10 league games this season, but remains England’s premier centre-back. At least he’ll be well rested.
5) Declan Rice
England’s lynchpin. Already on 50 caps. Future permanent captain. Bet he’s still regretting switching from the Republic of Ireland in 2019.
Rice is a key member of Southgate’s England line-up (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
6) Bukayo Saka
Like his club Arsenal, Saka gets slightly better every year. The 2023-24 season was his most productive yet, with 16 goals and nine assists in the Premier League.
7) Phil Foden
As recently as last summer, he wasn’t in Southgate’s first XI, but after a stellar season at Manchester City, he has forced his way into the team, starting England’s past five matches.
8) Harry Kane
The captain would be in first place on this list but for a persistent back injury that casts a small amount of doubt over his involvement. On the flip side, the Bayern Munich striker has the shortest distance to travel to the tournament of all Southgate’s players. He’ll be fine… won’t he?
9) Harry Maguire
In the opening months of the season, he was dropped by Erik ten Hag, stripped of the Manchester United captaincy and then laughed at and castigated at Hampden Park when scoring an own goal against old pals Scotland. And yet he just keeps going, head down, undeterred. Yes, Maguire has a mistake in him, but is there a viable centre-back alternative? He did miss the last four games of the league season through injury (which will emerge as a recurring theme in this article).
10) Kieran Trippier
Like Maguire and a few others on this list, he hasn’t had the best season at club level (still finished joint-third in the Premier League assist table with 10, mind) but Trippier’s been a reliable player for many years under Southgate. He missed most of March and all of April with a calf injury but finished the campaign with three appearances for Newcastle. Likely to be the first-choice left-back in Germany.
11) Trent Alexander-Arnold
He’s only ever played 112 minutes of major international tournament football (one appearance each in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups; he missed the previous Euros through injury). Surely a more important figure this time around?
12) Aaron Ramsdale
He has only played in two matches in 2024, but Southgate is not blessed with great goalkeeper options, so Ramsdale’s place on the flight feels pretty secure. He will be great at applauding Pickford’s better saves.
13) Ollie Watkins
Watkins played his way onto the plane with a phenomenal Premier League season of 19 goals and 13 assists. Not a natural backup to Kane, but he can play across the front three and could be a potent weapon coming off the bench.
Watkins has had a phenomenal season for Aston Villa (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
14) Conor Gallagher
A rarity on this list in that there are absolutely no doubts about his form or fitness. Hurrah! Gallagher was somewhere near the forefront of Chelsea’s late-season rejuvenation and it seems extremely unlikely he’d miss out now, considering Southgate has stuck by him when his form hasn’t been as good (Gallagher has been in every squad since before the 2022 World Cup).
15) Cole Palmer
Another who played his way onto the plane with a superb club season — 27 goals and 15 assists in all competitions. Has scored all nine of the penalties he’s taken for Chelsea since his summer arrival, so make sure you act shocked when he misses in the semi-final shootout against France.
16) Marc Guehi
Southgate’s third-choice centre-back over the past 12 months. A knee injury saw Guehi sidelined from February to May but he returned just in time to start building his fitness with three games for Crystal Palace at the end of the season. Has been a composed presence when called upon.
17) Anthony Gordon
Speedy, direct, hard-working, versatile and comfortable on either foot, not to mention 11 goals and 10 assists in the league this season, there’s an awful lot to like about Gordon. Voted player of the tournament at the Euros last summer (the under-21 version), he could be the Jack Grealish of Euro 2020 for Southgate in Germany.
18) Joe Gomez
An England exile of almost four years ended when Gomez was recalled in March and his versatility in a problem area will very likely ensure he’s in the final 26. Has played 51 times for Liverpool this season, the most in his career, with the majority of those appearances coming at full-back. Probably the backup left-back behind Trippier if Luke Shaw doesn’t make it.
19) Ezri Konsa
Taking form, fitness and top-flight experience into account, he is probably fourth in the pecking order from the seven specialist centre-backs Southgate has named. Aston Villa fans have been raving about him for years and he could now be club colleague Tyrone Mings’ natural successor in more ways than one.
20) Kobbie Mainoo
Mainoo highlighted the dearth of central midfield options at Southgate’s disposal when the country seemed to collectively take one look at the teenage Manchester United midfielder and say, “Yep. England.”
21) Ivan Toney
If Toney makes the final cut, he’ll have benefitted more than most from UEFA’s late call to allow 26-man squads instead of the previously traditional 23. Must have very nearly played his way out of contention with a horrible, goalless, 12-game end to the season which saw him briefly dropped by Brentford. But on the flip side, in theory, he offers the most natural alternative to Kane in the penalty area.
Toney is a natural alternative to Kane up front (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
22) Jack Grealish
Only featured for 29 per cent of Manchester City’s Premier League minutes this season. Just three goals and three assists from 36 club appearances is a miserable return from an injury-hit campaign. But you kind of feel if Southgate was going to leave a big gun like Grealish out, he would have done so on Tuesday, a la Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson.
23) James Maddison
Hmmm. He looked like the signing of the Premier League season after running Tottenham Hotspur’s midfield with pizzazz, flair and style in the late summer months, but after returning from an ankle injury in January, he looked half the player he had been. Very vulnerable to missing out, but versatility and experience may help his cause.
24) Curtis Jones
Of the five uncapped players in Southgate’s 33, Jones possibly has the best chance of sneaking in as the last central midfielder, probably ahead of Adam Wharton. It depends on what the manager wants from an extra backup who probably won’t get a game in Germany. Jones has been a reliable presence in Liverpool’s midfield for much of the season, albeit (yes, this again) he only started two league games in its final three months after an ankle injury impeded his progress. More experienced than Wharton and was an England Under-21s regular, which will count in his favour.
25) Lewis Dunk
Likely competing with Jarrad Branthwaite for the eighth defensive spot (Southgate also has Alexander-Arnold as a bonus right-back option, but with so many unfit defenders, he may want extra cover). Looked like a strong bet to make the squad before Christmas after a great display in the heat of battle at Hampden in October, but then had an awful night against Belgium in March and missed Brighton’s final match of the season with a knee injury.
26) James Trafford
In what world does relegated Burnley’s reserve goalkeeper get a call-up for England’s Euro 2024 squad? A world in which Sam Johnstone is out following elbow surgery, Nick Pope only returned for Newcastle’s final game of the season after missing five months with a shoulder injury, and Peter Shilton is retired.
27) Dean Henderson
There might be a Henderson in the England squad after all. The guy who had been Crystal Palace’s backup ’keeper ended the season in the team and in decent nick, and you could probably flip a coin between him and Trafford for the role of third-choice who almost certainly won’t play. Which one makes the better cup of tea?
28) Eberechi Eze
Like Gordon, Eze offers that potential X-factor from the bench in a tournament. Eleven goals and four assists from his 27 Premier League appearances this season and Southgate is a fan, but as the England manager said on Tuesday: “You can take too many forwards.” He’s picked 12 of them in this 33-strong squad, so at least one will miss out, possibly two. Talking of which…
29) Jarrod Bowen
Bowen is probably the most likely to be the sacrificial lamb from those dozen forwards, despite enjoying his best-ever season with 20 goals and 10 assists for West Ham in all competitions. He is behind Saka and Palmer for a right-forward spot and Kane and Watkins for a central one, so it’s either him, Eze or Toney for the spare attacker, you would imagine. And Bowen doesn’t take penalties, so…
30) Jarrad Branthwaite
Had an outstanding breakthrough season where he was a colossus at times alongside James Tarkowski; only Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool conceded fewer Premier League goals than Everton. This tournament may come just too soon for 21-year-old Branthwaite – who was called up in March, too, then didn’t play in either game – but he and the next guy on this list have the potential to be regulars in England’s squad for the next few years.
Adam Wharton has had an incredible rise in recent months (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
31) Adam Wharton
An outside bet to complete an incredibly unlikely rise from playing in the second-tier Championship with Blackburn Rovers in January to gracing the Euros in June. Southgate said he wants to “have a look” at some of the youngsters he’s picked and if the 20-year-old Crystal Palace midfielder seriously impresses in training alongside Bellingham and Rice, well, you never know.
32) Jarell Quansah
It’s been an impressive rise to prominence from a player who was on loan at Bristol Rovers in League One, English football’s third division, last season. Has only 17 top-flight appearances under his belt and this is his first England call-up, so a place in the final 26 is unlikely, but with so many defenders unfit, you still can’t rule him out. Either way, Quansah looks to have a future in an England shirt.
33) Luke Shaw
And finally, 33rd and last on our list comes its first specialist left-back! Is it Ben Chilwell? Nope. Tyrick Mitchell? No. It’s Luke Shaw, who has played no football since February because of an unspecified muscle injury. Clearly, Shaw starts if he’s fit, but we can only go on what Southgate said in his Tuesday press conference: “He’s up against it… we’ve given him longer (to prove his fitness) because he’s first-choice… he’s a long shot.” But who needs left-backs anyway, right? Pep Guardiola has proved that. Are we sure Josko Gvardiol is definitely Croatian?
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 photos: Getty Images)
