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Gareth Southgate announced his official England squad for Euro 2024 on Thursday evening with the big news being the omissions of Jack Grealish and James Maddison who both picked for the squad at the previous major tournament, World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
The England boss named a 33-player preliminary squad for two warm-up matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland knowing that he would need to cut seven players ahead of the tournament. The squad announcement was due to take place on Saturday morning but as news filtered out of the camp that some big names had been cut the FA decided to bring forward the reveal.
Along with Maddison and Grealish, Harry Maguire will play no part at Euro 2024 with goalkeeper James Trafford, defenders Jarell Quansah and Jarrad Branthwaite and Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones the other players to be omitted.
Addressing the squad announcement at a press conference Southgate explained the reasons behind Grealish and Maddison being let go stating that other players had better seasons.
“All the players took the news really respectfully,” said Southgate, “Of course, all players will believe they should be in and that’s why they are top players.
“They have that self-belief and mindset, but the fact is we have some players who have been playing extremely well all season in the league.
“We just feel other players had stronger seasons particularly in the last six months or so. Attacking areas, in particular, we’re blessed with a lot of options, all slightly different.
“Madders and Jack both give us something different as well. They’ve been tough calls, calls that we as a group have gone over and over and over. We back our decisions but recognise we could have gone a different route.”
Declan Rice was alongside the England boss at the press conference and explained how it felt to lose Maddison and Grealish from the squad.
He said: “It’s been really tough. Madders and Jack are two of my best mates in the squad, probably spent most of my time with them since I’ve been here.
“To see them go is not a nice feeling. And they’ve both just said then, before they went, Madders last night, Jack just now, that they wish us all the best.
“They’re gutted they’ve been left out of the squad. We’re so close as a group and no one is feeling really bitter about being left out.”
Maddison was told on Wednesday night that he had not made the squad and took to social media to express his disappointment at missing out on Euro 2024. The Tottenham midfielder has won seven caps but only played 29 minutes off the bench against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday night.
“Devastated doesn’t quite cut it,” Maddison said on his social media posts. “Trained well and worked hard all week but if I’m honest with myself, my form for Spurs when coming back from injury in the second half of the season probably wasn’t at the levels I had set which gave Gareth a decision to make.
“I still thought there would be a space for me in a 26 man squad as I feel I bring something different & had been a mainstay in this whole qualifying campaign for Euro 2024 in Germany but the manager has made the decision and I have to respect that. I’ll be back, I have no doubt.
“Wishing the boys all the luck in the world out in Germany, unbelievable group and lads that I literally call some of my best friends. I genuinely hope football comes home.”