Seven players Gareth Southgate should drop from England’s preliminary Euro 2024 squad

Gareth Southgate pulled no punches when he named his preliminary England squad to prepare for the European Championship, dispensing with long-serving stalwarts Jordan Henderson and Marcus Rashford to usher in a changing of the guard.

The manager has had more than a week to assess his squad and named an experimental line-up for the friendly against Bosnia & Herzegovina to see as many players as possible. Over the next couple of days, he now has to make his mind up and cut his 33-man squad down to 26.

Southgate will name the final squad he takes to Germany on Saturday, June 8, the day after England’s final warm-up game before the tournament against Iceland. And we have gone through the squad with a fine-tooth comb, picking the seven players who should be kindly told to check out of St George’s Park and make alternative plans for the summer.

Aaron Ramsdale

The four goalkeeping spots obviously need trimming down to three, and it’s highly unlikely that even the third goalkeeper will get any playing time bar exceptional circumstances. So essentially Southgate needs a reliable back-up to Jordan Pickford and a third goalkeeper who will benefit from the experience of being away with the squad for a major tournament.

James Trafford, 22, is likely to be England’s future No.1 and would gain the most from being with the senior squad, especially after his confidence was hit by his difficult end to the season with Burnley, when he was taken out of the team for Ari Muric.

So it is a contest between Dean Henderson and Aaron Ramsdale to step in in the case of an injury to Pickford, and right now the Crystal Palace man leads the way. He had an excellent end to the season after Sam Johnstone’s injury and is in fine form ahead of the tournament, ready to dive in if needs be.

Ramsdale, by contrast, spent much of the campaign sitting on the bench after Arsenal signed David Raya and has played just two matches in 2024, meaning there is a risk he is rusty and out of practice if he does need to jump off the bench.

Curtis Jones

Curtis Jones took the mantle from Henderson at Liverpool this season and did an excellent job until an ankle injury suffered at Brentford in February knocked him out of action for six weeks. He naturally struggled to recover his previous form when he returned, and the tournament comes after a tough end to the season for him and the Reds.

Jones also took Henderson’s place in the preliminary squad, but the sheer competition for his position mean he should not go to Germany. Kobbie Mainoo has greater technical quality and is in better form, while Adam Wharton has also got ahead of him in the pecking order.

The fact that Southgate turned to Wharton rather than Jones against Bosnia suggests he has already made his mind up over which midfielder he would rather take to Germany to compete with Mainoo for the spot next to Declan Rice in holding midfield.

Liverpool centre-back Jarell Quansah had an excellent breakthrough season and will surely be a key player for England in the future, starting with the 2026 World Cup. But Euro 2024 comes just too early in his development.

Quansah is still raw and inexperienced, and made some high-profile errors, above all when he gifted Bruno Fernandes an open goal at Old Trafford in April. England have enough quality and experience in central defence and the 21-year-old, while definitely one to watch, is surplus to requirements for now.

Ezri Konsa

Ezri Konsa was a key part of Aston Villa finishing fourth and qualifying for the Champions League for the first time ever. However, he has struggled to replicate his club performances in an England shirt. That’s mostly because he has been deployed as a right-back, and his performances pale in comparison to the likes of Kyle Walker or Kieran Trippier

He might be a better option at centre-back, but England already have plenty of alternatives in that position, and even with doubts over Luke Shaw’s fitness at left-back, Joe Gomez is a better option on that side.

Harry Maguire

Harry Maguire is one of England’s most experienced players and were he fully fit then there would be no doubts about him taking his place in the heart of Southgate’s defence. But he has struggled with injuries this season, missing six weeks in the winter with a groin problem and being sidelined for the final month with a muscle issue. He missed the Bosnia match and is a major doubt for Iceland.

And while England might want to gamble on Shaw’s fitness due to the paucity of options at left-back, there is no need to do the same with Maguire, with the likes of Marc Guehi, Jarrad Branthwaite and Lewis Dunk all equipped to take his place.

James Maddison

Were he of any other nationality, James Maddison would be front and centre of his side’s plans for the Euros. But he has the misfortune to be competing for a place in the area where England have the most talent.

Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Anthony Gordon are all way ahead of the Tottenham attacking midfielder, and even with all the problems he has had, Jack Grealish is also ahead of him after his stirring performance off the bench against Bosnia.

Maddison made a flying start to the season with Tottenham, but an ankle injury derailed his progress and after two-and-a-half months out he struggled to reproduce his earlier form. Meanwhile, his competitors for a place in the squad have stepped it up, especially Eberechi Eze, who was one of the best performers against Bosnia.

Ivan Toney

Ivan Toney narrowly missed out on the World Cup squad and responded by firing in 20 goals for Brentford that same season. That should have made him a serious contender for Euro 2024, but a grenade was thrown on his career when he was found guilty of breaking the FA’s betting regulations and was given an eight-month ban from football.

It is too long to have been away from competitive football so soon before a tournament, and although he made a stunning return, scoring four times in his first four matches back, his time out soon caught up with him.

Toney has not scored for Brentford since February, while his main rival Ollie Watkins finished the season with 19 goals and 13 assists. That means the Villa man has the edge when it comes to being Harry Kane’s back-up in Germany.