Ezri Konsa, Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer have all earnt their first call-ups to England’s senior squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia, with Jude Bellingham and Levi Colwill since adding to the list of withdrawals.
England had already confirmed James Maddison, Callum Wilson and Lewis Dunk would play no part, and after reporting at St George’s Park on Monday, both Bellingham and Colwill will now return to their clubs to continue their rehabilitation.
Tuesday’s statement from England also said Marcus Rashford and Kalvin Phillips will meet up later this week “owing to personal matters”.
In terms of the late call-ups, Manchester City defender Lewis and Chelsea midfielder Palmer were promoted from the U21s squad.
Palmer impressed in Chelsea’s 4-4 draw with the 21-year-old’s former club Manchester City on Sunday as he stepped up to score the injury-time equaliser from the penalty spot.
He was pictured in conversation afterwards with fellow City academy graduate Lewis, the 18-year-old who has made 10 appearances this season, including three starts in the Champions League.
Palmer has played 15 times for England’s youth teams, winning the U21 Euros in the summer, while Lewis already has four caps at that level.
Konsa meanwhile was a 2017 U20 World Cup winner and represented the U21s seven times.
Maddison blow, Sterling door shut?
Maddison, who has made a major impact at Spurs since making a £40m move from Leicester in the summer, sustained an ankle injury during Spurs’ 4-1 defeat to Chelsea and is expected to be out until the New Year.
Elsewhere, Raheem Sterling’s place at Euro 2024 is in serious doubt after he was left out of Southgate’s squad for a fifth time in a row.
Sterling last played for England as a substitute in the 2-1 World Cup quarter-final defeat to France and missed squads in March and June because of fitness issues, but has subsequently not been selected because of “exceptional” performances by other members of the squad.
England are due to face Malta on Friday 17 November at Wembley and then North Macedonia in Skopje on Monday 20 November.
Southgate’s men have already qualified for Euro 2024, due to be held in Germany next summer, meaning the England boss could be tempted to treat these two games as an opportunity to experiment.
However, i understands England place a high value on opportunities to gather those players who are most likely to be selected going forward – with only one more camp after this one before the European Championship – meaning the likes of Sterling have precious little chance of forcing their way back in.
“The door is 100 per cent open, not only for Raheem but other players that aren’t in the squad,” Southgate said.
“We don’t need to know about his quality and personality. He’s a crucial part of why we’ve had the journey we’ve had over the last few years.
“The squad is playing really well and we had an exceptional win against Italy last time out. Who do we leave out?
“No [the relationship hasn’t broken down]. He wasn’t available in March or June.
“We started on a good run and the performance in June were excellent so we’ve stuck with that group. We’ve deliberately not made many changes.”
England squad in full
- Goalkeepers: Sam Johnstone, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale
- Defenders: Marc Guehi, Rico Lewis, Harry Maguire, Fikayo Tomori, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker
- Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Gallagher, Jordan Henderson, Cole Palmer, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice
- Forwards: Jarrod Bowen, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Ollie Watkins
That strength in depth in the forward line also means there is no place for Anthony Gordon, who was expected to make his England debut. Ben White, who left the 2022 World Cup prematurely amid rumours of a bust-up with coaching staff, is also not included – but Southgate insisted it was purely a football decision.
“Ben has been very solid for Arsenal,” the England boss added.
“He’s a different profile of full-back. He’s a centre-back playing at full-back really. He’s just behind a couple of others in our reckoning.”
John Stones misses out on the squad through injury, meaning either Konsa, Marc Guehi, Levi Colwill or Fikayo Tomori will partner Harry Maguire at centre-half.
“It’s an area of the pitch where we’ve had a big turnover in the squad,” Southgate said.
“I’m really disappointed for John. He’s having a difficult time injury-wise at the moment but it gives other people an opportunity.
“We need to know a little bit more about a few other players in that area of the pitch.”
