England head coach Gareth Southgate has announced a 33-man provisional England squad for Euro 2020 with the final list announcement to be made on 1st June 2021.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Eric Dier were the talk of the town as Alexander-Arnold received a call-back to the national squad and Dier was left out of the side, which came as a surprise to many.
Ben White, Ben Godfrey and Aaron Ramsdale have also been named in the provisional squad for the first time ever and will hope to make the final cut in a week’s time.
Goalkeeper Nick Pope was left out due to injury, which meant uncapped goalkeeper Sam Johnstone who is a product of Manchester United’s youth academy, was also named in the 33-man squad for the first time.
Southgate has named a 33-man group that will be trimmed down to 26 players on 1st June, allowing him to potentially crucial players who are injury doubts such as Harry Maguire, Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips.
Alexander-Arnold’s return was warranted given his performances towards the end of the season that helped Liverpool finish 3rd in the Premier League table behind the Manchester clubs. He has been named alongside fellow right-backs – Chelsea’s Reece James, Atletico Madrid’s Kieran Trippier and Manchester City’s Kyle Walker.
Bukayo Saka, Ollie Watkins and 17-year-old Jude Bellingham were names expected to make the cut but it was a welcome sign for Mason Greenwood who received his first call-up to the national squad after the Iceland debacle.
Jesse Lingard has earned a spot after his impressive form for West Ham United since joining on loan from Manchester United in January.
BREAKING: England confirm a provisional 33-man squad for Euro 2020 ???????
Trent Alexander-Arnold is included ✅
Uncapped defenders Ben White and Ben Godfrey also get the nod ?
Eric Dier and Danny Ings are among those left out ❌ pic.twitter.com/FmuBp2mwsv
— Goal (@goal) May 25, 2021
A couple of big names left out by Southgate were Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford, who scored 17 Premier League goals this season and Southampton’s prolific striker Danny Ings, as England will potentially focus on playing just 1 striker in every game. That striker spot is sealed by England captain Harry Kane.
England have warm-up games against Austria on 2nd June followed by Romania on the 6th before kicking off Euro 2020 against Croatia – the team they lost to in the 2018 FIFA World Cup semifinal in Russia – on 13th June.
Speaking about his decision to name a 33-man squad, Southgate explained: “Really, I think our situation is more complicated than any other country at the moment.
“Of this 33, 12 are still to play in European finals this week so we were always going to need some additional players for the first part of our camp.
“Add into that we have injuries at various stages, there are a couple we have very little information about and a couple who are back into training and matches in Jordan Henderson and Jack Grealish but not training consistently.
“We felt that more time is going to help us make better decisions.
“I’ve always said my preference would be to name the squad as a clean 26, we did that in Russia and we had standby players who knew their roles and that’s always a preferable situation.
“But we haven’t got an ideal hand of cards this time and there are a lot of unknowns and I think information and evidence is really important when you’re making decisions, we’ll have more in the next seven days.”
There are only three players who play their football outside England’s Premier League in this squad – Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid in Spain), Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho (both play in Germany for Borussia Dortmund).
Manchester United play in the Europa League final and the England squad features 5 players from the Red Devils, which is the most from any club in the squad.
Man City has 4 players in the English provisional squad and Chelsea have 3 players, and all 7 of them will be facing off in the UEFA Champions League final this weekend.
Here is England’s 33-man provisional Euro 2020 squad.
Goalkeepers
- Dean Henderson (Manchester United)
- Sam Johnstone (West Bromwich Albion)
- Jordan Pickford (Everton)
- Aaron Ramsdale (Sheffield United)
Defenders
- Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
- Ben Chilwell (Chelsea)
- Conor Coady (Wolves)
- Ben Godfrey (Everton)
- Reece James (Chelsea)
- Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
- Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa)
- Luke Shaw (Manchester United)
- John Stones (Man City)
- Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid)
- Kyle Walker (Man City)
- Ben White (Brighton)
Midfielders
- Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
- Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)
- Jesse Lingard (West Ham)
- Mason Mount (Chelsea)
- Kalvin Phillips (Leeds)
- Declan Rice (West Ham)
- James Ward-Prowse (Southampton)
Forwards
- Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)
- Phil Foden (Man City)
- Jack Grealish (Aston Villa)
- Mason Greenwood (Manchester United)
- Harry Kane (Tottenham)
- Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
- Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
- Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund)
- Raheem Sterling (Man City)
- Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
