Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Aaron Ramsdale have been included in Gareth Southgate’s 30-man provisional squad for England’s Euro 2024 campaign.
Arsenal’s three other England internationals – Ben White, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah – miss out but there’s nothing particularly surprising about that.
White has communicated that he’s not interested in playing for the Three Lions at this point while Smith Rowe and Nketiah have struggled for game time at the Emirates this season.
Assuming they stay fit, Saka and Rice are likely to be starters for their country when the tournament kicks off in Germany on 14 June.
The former heads to his third major tournament before he turns 23 looking to banish the memories of his penalty shootout miss in the last Euros. He has 11 goals in 32 appearances for England.
When England last played – a 2-2 draw with Belgium in March – Rice wore the captain’s armband in the absence of Harry Kane. He’ll likely form part of the leadership group at the upcoming camp with Jordan Henderson not selected.
Ramsdale had hoped he could use the 23/24 Premier League campaign to challenge Jordan Pickford’s status as England’s first-choice keeper but having played second fiddle to David Raya, that hasn’t come to pass. His last game for his country was the 3-1 win at Scotland in September.
England gear up for the Euros with friendlies against Bosnia and Iceland. They then take on Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia in the group stage.
England’s provisional squad
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal), James Trafford (Burnley).
Defenders: Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Jarell Quansah (Liverpool), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), Kyle Walker (Manchester City).
Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Curtis Jones (Liverpool), 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), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), James Maddison (Tottenham), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).
Confirming the #ThreeLions‘ pre-#EURO2024 training squad! 🏴
— England (@England) May 21, 2024
Rice and Saka locked on starters is always special. I feel a bit sad we don’t have a young talent breaking in but ESR has struggled since injury and our team is now so damn good it’s hard to break in.
Has Ben White said he doesn’t want to play for England? It’s odd he’s never included in international games. Mind you, I’d rather he not get risked mid-season in a stupid international friendly!
I guess you didn’t know he signed a new contract either. Those two topics were the same day
Ben White is England best defender and them cunts know it!!
Southgate again being a prick about the Ben white availability thing when the press ask. It’s never about the manager or his staff, it’s about the player’s attitude?
Is Foden competition to Saka, like for like? Would like Saka to raise his game and show Foden who is the boss.
Unlikely, Foden will almost certainly play on the left. Saka’s competition on the right will be Palmer, and possibly Bowen if he makes the final cut.
So Foden – Kane – Saka and Bellingham behind them? Can’t wait to see another England vs France during the tournament.
Unfortunately behind Bellingham there’s not a single decent creative midfielder so feels like England will suffer some of the same issues we had at the start of the season when we were playing Haverts at the 8 and Rice at 6, having a bunch of lethal attacking players but never quite managing to link up properly and create chances for them
Could play Palmer/Foden/Maddison there. Note sure Maddison will get selected, so potentially either of the other 2.
I don’t think Bellingham is particularly creative, he’s more in the Lampard/Gerrard mould.
I think deep lying playmaking is a problem for England, along with defence of course
No you’re right but he’s more creative than Lampard, he can at least dribble which opens up some simple key passes. But yeah, in that sense Wilshere was such an outlier talent, as much progress as England have made technically in the last decade or so it’s still so rare for an English midfielder to have that kind of vision and touch on the ball.
I hear Adam Wharton at Crystal Palace might be that player, it’s my understanding he’s been the reason they’ve started scoring bucket loads
Wharton is a good player but they’re playing well as a collective because Glasner has introduced a modern structure that platforms Eze and Olise ideally while staying compact, pressing high with coordination and intensity. Wharton is a part of that but not “the reason.”
I did say might be, he is only 20 but he the deep-lying playmaker getting the ball to those players
Foden and Saka compliment each other on either side of the wing. Your vitriolic hatred is what ensures England doesn’t win anything .
Not being funny but his so-called vitriolic hatred has little to do with England’s chances of winning – the fact is defensively they are crap so will bow out to the first half decent team they meet in the knockout stages!!!
Foden’s not a winger my dude.
https://twitter.com/nonewthing/status/1792300974595277260/photo/1
Certainly not a left winger.
https://twitter.com/nonewthing/status/1789712287806128578
Foden should play the Odegaard role for England with Saka or dare I say it Palmer outside him.
To be honest I feel both Saka and Martinelli have regressed a little this season. Although i think thats because our wingers have played a more peripheral role despite having more of the ball. They’ve become our jab rather than our knock-out blow, high volume of touches and the expense of total output and their goal stats bare that out.
Didn’t Saka just have his best year on goal contributions.
He scored 10 non-penalty goals, that’s less than the 12 he scored the season before. He also had 11 assist compared to this seasons 9.
So he has produced less in the last season
He score 9 open play goals and had 7 assists the season before that too.
For me his goal contributions haven’t progressed as much as he is capable of and that’s fair criticism as far as i’m concerned
I hope Saka regresses a little more next season and scores more agsin than he did the previous. I salute this kind of regression
Erm ..Neither the poster nor their “vitriolic hatred” picks England’s squads or tactics. That’s Southgate’s job, and maybe the reason England “doesn’t win anything.”
Kane
Foden Jude Saka
Rice Mainoo
Trippier Maguire Stones Walker
Pickford
Is that England’s best 11?
No. Bellingham instead of Maine. And Maguire wouldn’t even be in Faroe Islands best 11.
I get some of the Mainoo hype, but I wouldn’t pick him ahead of Bellingham.
Actually quite a good squad, some interesting young players in there and non playing / out of form / retirement league players like Rashford/Henderson/Phillips/Sterling for once.
I’d cut Trafford/Dunk/Quansah/Konsa/Jones/Toney/Maddison.
Rice should be England captain. And Saka should be allowed to wear a crown and a cape if he wants to. And be addressed by all (including Southgate) as ‘Sir’. I’m just hoping Southgate finally stops being a bit negative and realises just how good the current crop of England players is. Ok, he was unlucky in the Euros (but a bit negative second half/extra time in the final I thought) but this current crop of England players is the best that I’ve ever seen. His apparent dropping of Rashford and Henderson perhaps shows he’s not just picking his favourites… Read more »
He doesn’t have a midfield to unleash. Put a profile like Kroos or Modric in this team and they’d win it for sure, but that type of midfield controller/organizer is a huge miss. How will they connect the back line to the attack? That’s Southgate’s major quandary. Mainoo and Curtis Jones are the closest and they’re not ready for this level.
Jones is arse. He’s his own biggest fan.
Mainoo could be that player, but as you say, he’s so young it is unfair to put that much pressure on him at this point.
More of a concern for me is the defence. Walker is the only one I have confidence in, defensively.
Defending is a collective thing first and foremost. The batch England has is more than fine if they don’t have to defend a lot of space behind them. If they want to play on the front foot more then playing Guehi/Konsa makes more sense, but I suspect they’ll stay deep-ish without the ball so Maguire and Stones can play.
Hopefully this will keep Ramsdale’s selling price decent as we look for a buyer…
Mf and attack
Rice Bellingham
Saka Palmer Foden
Kane
Unstoppable.
I wonder if Southgate tried to call up Olise, after Deschamps chose not to call him up for France (a decision that is raising a big fuss in France). Happy for Ramsdale, and hope he makes the final squad.
Surely he will make it over that competition… James Trafford and Dean Henderson! From a selfish Arsenal perspective I hope he plays really well and it drives up the asking price.
James Trafford has been annoyingly crap. Not because I care if he/Burnley does well, but because it was annoying Man City got so much money for a bloke who had played a season for Bolton.
They have cheated enough to get where they are, without getting a leg-up from stupid clubs who just look at a player’s employer rather than how good they are.
Yeah when you financially dope your academy it becomes easier to self sustain. But that wouldn’e be possible without the initial frontload of incredible resources. They make a killing on guys like Trafford now.
Apparently England are ‘keeping tabs on’ Olise. They should be doing more than that given he’s also eligible for Nigeria and Algeria, who I’m sure would gladly call him up if given half a sniff.
Incredible player but England are so loaded at his position already!
Joe Gomez.. Not a very serious squad, even if it is preliminary.
Some real outside shouts in there. A lot of these are very green (Wharton, Trafford, Quansah, Eze, Mainoo) or have spent a lot of time on the sideline (Shaw, Guehi, Toney, Stones, Trippier). I also don’t know who he thinks will play left back. There’s too much talent up front and at RB and not enough in midfield or LB or GK. That lends itself to a team that will play its best football in transitions. I think in international tournaments you want a team with lots of continuity and the most talent you can muster. So I’d be asking… Read more »
Why no Walker in either of your teams? He’s the best all-round right back England have in the squad.
Certainly the best defensive RB. It wouldn’t be wrong to start him. I just value the offensive aspect of Trippier, if he’s fit, because I think England will face a lot of teams that will try to deny them space. He is one of two players in the squad who can deliver a killer pass from deeper areas. I would certainly Walker against Mbappe.
Interesting. I suppose it makes sense based on how many assists he gets. I just never look at the two and think Trippier is a better attacker but I’m probably wrong.
He’s a more powerful runner/carrier but in terms of decision making and delivery in the final third, Trippier is clear of him.