Gareth Southgate: England manager explains Euro 2024 squad omissions of big names

England manager Gareth Southgate discusses the reasons behind some of the omissions from his 26-man squad for Euro 2024.
Gareth Southgate has explained the thinking behind his 26-player Euro 2024 squad, in which he included Luke Shaw but not Harry Maguire, Jack Grealish and James Maddison.

Maguire has played a major part in all three of England’s previous tournament squads under his leadership and may have been fit to play some part in Germany, but Southgate told reporters the “balance” of his squad would be undermined by taking him.

He also explained why Grealish will not feature in the travelling party despite an impressive cameo, and assist, against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday night and why Maddison, who tweeted he felt he could have “offered something different” following his omission, also will not be on the plane.

Southgate referenced Shaw, who has been picked despite not kicking a ball since February, as the one “gamble” in his squad and gave an update on when the Man Utd left-back could be available during the tournament.

Read Southgate’s full explanations for his selections below…

England’s final 26-player squad for Euro 2024
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal)
Defenders: Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Man Utd), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), 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), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).
On James Maddison and Jack Grealish’s absence…
“The fact is we’ve got some players who have been playing extremely well all season in the league and we just feel other players have had stronger seasons – particularly in the past six months or so.

“We saw some fantastic performances the other night which underlined some of that and in the attacking area of the pitch we’re blessed with a lot of options and they’re all slightly different.

Source: Skysport