Thomas Tuchel has named his England squad, including Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly and Newcastle’s Dan Burn.
On Friday morning, Tuchel named a 26-man squad for his first camp as England manager, with the Three Lions preparing to face Albania and Latvia in World Cup qualifiers later this month.
Veterans Kyle Walker and Jordan Henderson were also selected, as was Marcus Rashford following an impressive start to life at Aston Villa.
But perhaps the most interesting aspect is the player who didn’t make the cut.
The likes of Lewis Hall, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ollie Watkins, John Stones, Kobbie Mainoo and Bukayo Saka are out injured. Here, Standard Sport looks at some of the names who missed out for other reasons…
The Tottenham midfielder scored an important goal on Thursday night as Spurs reached the last eight of the Europa League by beating AZ Alkmaar 3-1 at home. But Maddison has endured a tough season and been in and out of Ange Postecoglou’s squad.
It’s been a similar story this term for Grealish at Manchester City, where other wide players have received the bulk of the game time. The 29-year-old has not scored a league goal yet this season, assisting only once, but was a favourite in the second half of Gareth Southgate’s tenure.
Gallagher was also an important player under Southgate, as well as for interim manager Lee Carsley. Yet the Atletico Madrid midfielder, who scored in the first minute in their Champions League defeat to city rivals Real this week, has not been selected in one the more surprising omissions by Tuchel.
Morgan Gibbs-White
Plenty of Premier League fans will be surprised to see the Nottingham Forest vice-captain miss out. Forest have been the surprise package of the Premier League season, third in the league. Gibbs-White has been as crucial to their meteoric rise as anyone. A key player under Carsley, Tuchel has left him out.
Adam Wharton
Midfielder Adam Wharton has played once for England, in a pre-Euro 2024 warm-up match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but travelled to that tournament as part of Southgate’s squad when just 20 years old. Injury has disrupted his season but he’s back now for Crystal Palace. Has made the Under-21s squad.
Rico Lewis
Rico Lewis can play in midfield or on either side as a full-back, yet Tuchel has not selected him. The 20-year-old has played 36 times in all competitions for Pep Guardiola’s City side this season, and has five England caps to date. He joins Wharton in the U21s.
Angel Gomes
The pint-sized Lille midfielder was the real revelation of Carsley’s six matches in charge, starring in England’s Nations League promotion campaign last autumn. However, he has not been called up in what appears a blow to his chances of becoming a key man in Tuchel’s midfield.
Djed Spence
Uncapped at senior level, Spence has been the outstanding performer in a lacklustre Spurs team this year. The 24-year-old full-back, adept on either flank, is a surprising omission.
Ethan Nwaneri
Like Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri has shone for Arsenal this term, benefiting from their injury woes to emerge as a bona fide attacking option for Mikel Arteta. Still just 17, Nwaneri was named in the Under-21s squad.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
While at Manchester United, Wan-Bissaka grew so tired of being repeatedly overlooked at right-back by Southgate that he considered his options and mulled over a change of international allegiance to represent DR Congo instead. However, the 27-year-old remains uncaps at senior level and plenty of West Ham fans expected him to be included given his excellent start to life at the London Stadium.
Nick Pope
The Newcastle goalkeeper has dovetailed with Martin Dubravka for game time for the Magpies this season. Will be frustrated at having missed out on a place to a Championship player in the form of James Trafford — though the Burnley youngster has been in exceptional form.
Ben Chilwell
Will look back on his England career and lament the number of caps he might have earned if he had stayed fit and in form for more prolonged periods of time. After months out of the reckoning at Chelsea, he’s now out on loan at Palace where he has fellow ex-England international Tyrick Mitchell as left wing-back competition.
Ivan Toney
This squad was always going to stress test how highly Tuchel sees the quality of the Saudi Pro League. Toney, who swapped Brentford for Al Ahli last summer, has not been included even despite the absence of the injured Aston Villa frontman Ollie Watkins.
Jarrad Branthwaite
The Everton centre-back appeared a staple of the England defence of the future last summer and will be perplexed as to how he has not been included, albeit he has called into the U21s. So, too, will Everton fans.
Liam Delap
Time is on Liam Delap’s side, but he may feel 10 goals in the Premier League for struggling Ipswich Town should be enough for him to be included. Will have expected to be further down the pecking order than the included Dominic Solanke but might have squeezed in if he’d been lucky. Included in U21s.
Fikayo Tomori
Not playing as regularly for AC Milan as he was at the start of the season but a centre-back with demonstrated pedigree.
