Gareth Southgate revealed his provisional squad for the upcoming UEFA Euro. Seven players will get cut from the final squad, although the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ollie Watkins have been called up for now.
Alexander-Arnold makes the England squad ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020 – for now. The Liverpool star was included in the expanded 33 man squad after Southgate decided to delay the final announcement to a later date.
Apart from Alexander-Arnold, the biggest surprise of the squad announcement was the inclusion of Brighton’s Ben White and Everton’s Ben Godfrey. The center-back pairing was picked over some of their more experienced positional peers, such as Lewis Dunk and James Tarkowski. Meanwhile, Southgate also decided to call up Tyrone Mings but left out Fikayo Tomori, who has had a resurgent second half of the season on loan at AC Milan.
Southgate also picked four goalkeepers for now, but there was no room for Burnley’s Nick Pope. It was revealed earlier that Pope had suffered from an injury that could rule him out of the Euros, as it turned out to be the case. Instead, Manchester United’s Dean Henderson and WBA’s Sam Johnstone have been included in the provisional call ups and Aaron Ramsdale (Sheffield United). It is expected that one of the four custodians gets dropped from the final squad.
A few players based outside of England have also been called up to the provisional squad. Borussia Dortmund youngsters Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham make the cut for now, as does Atletico Madrid star Kieran Trippier. Trippier enjoyed a successful season with Atletico in Spain as he helped them win the league. Meanwhile, Bellingham and Sancho were key to Dortmund securing Champions League football for another season.
Man United provide the largest share of players to the England squad presently, with six Red Devils called up to the senior squad. English champions Manchester City lend four players to the 33-man squad while Chelsea contribute with three.
England – who finished fourth under Southgate in the 2018 FIFA World Cup – are among the favorites to win the competition, based purely on their squad strength. Furthermore, the Three Lions have been lucky enough with the draw, which has pitted them against Croatia, Scotland, and the Czech Republic. They reached the last 16 of the same competition five years ago, which was its last edition, before suffering a humiliating exit at the hands of Iceland.
The final squad will be announced on June 1, before England take on Austria and Romania in their preparation matches. The Three Lions will be involved in Euro 2020 from June 13.
