Gareth Southgate to break news to England’s unlucky seven
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Gareth Southgate will tell seven players on Tuesday that their hopes of representing England at Euro 2020 are over, after deciding to wait until the last possible training session to finalise his 26-man squad.
The England manager has until 11pm BST to submit his list to Uefa and will oversee a final session for the friendly against Austria on Wednesday before confirming his selection. A press conference with Southgate to explain his decisions was scheduled for 3pm on Tuesday. That will be put back several hours, before which he will inform seven members of his provisional 33-man squad in person that they will not be involved in the finals tournament this summer.
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Trent Alexander-Arnold’s place remains uncertain with the Liverpool right-back, who was dropped from the last international squad in March, facing fierce competition from Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier and the newly crowned European champion Reece James. Southgate, however, suggested last week that all four right-backs could be included because of their flexibility.
The uncapped trio of the Sheffield United goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, the Everton defender Ben Godfrey and the Brighton defender Ben White are not expected to make the cut with the England manager, who has trained without 12 of his provisional squad this week because of their European cup final commitments, regarding their call-ups as valuable experience. The Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka could also miss out, leaving Jesse Lingard and Mason Greenwood among those sweating on Southgate’s final decision.
Manchester United’s captain, Harry Maguire, is likely to be named in the squad despite being out of action since 9 May with ankle ligament damage and being a doubt for the Euro 2020 opener against Croatia on 13 June.
The injury concerns in midfield for England appear to be easing, however, with Jordan Henderson reporting for training a day ahead of schedule on Friday and Kalvin Phillips, who sustained a shoulder injury on the final day of the Premier League season with Leeds, taking part in team training.
England are training with a 21-man squad at Middlesbrough’s Rockliffe training ground for the game with Austria on Wednesday and the friendly against Romania on Sunday. Every England player involved in Manchester United’s Europa League final defeat by Villarreal last Wednesday, and the Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester City on Saturday, have been given seven days to recover before reporting.