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Gareth Southgate left Jack Grealish and Harry Maguire out of his 26-man England squad for Euro 2024, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein.
Grealish was a regular for Southgate’s team and shone during the Three Lions’ run to the European Championship final in 2021, but he struggled to maintain his form at Manchester City during the 2023-24 campaign. Meanwhile, Manchester United’s Maguire hasn’t played since April due to a calf injury.
Jarell Quansah and James Trafford are also expected to miss out, Ornstein reports.
James Maddison and Curtis Jones were officially dropped from the preliminary squad Thursday. With Grealish, Maguire, Quansah, and Trafford reportedly following that pair out of the national team camp, Southgate needs to cut one more name from the following list before 6 p.m. ET on Friday.
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal), Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace)
Defenders: Kyle Walker, John Stones (both Manchester City), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Lewis Dunk (Brighton)
Midfielders: Declan Rice (Arsenal), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Forwards: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace)
The attacking options at Southgate’s disposal still appear stacked after shedding names from his squad. Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer, and Jarrod Bowen started behind striker Ollie Watkins in Monday’s 3-0 friendly win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, while captain Harry Kane made an appearance off the bench with Maddison and Grealish.
“Devastated doesn’t quite cut it,” Tottenham Hotspur playmaker Maddison wrote on X after he was left out. “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.”
Ivan Toney, who currently appears to be behind Kane and Watkins in the striking pecking order, was an unused substitute against Bosnia. He failed to score for Brentford during his final 12 appearances of the club season.
England’s final friendly before leaving for Germany is against Iceland at Wembley on Friday.