We finally have the official England call-up list for the EURO 2021 shared by Gareth Southgate. A total of seven players were cut.
Gareth Southgate was scheduled to publish the final 26-men list of players who are going to represent England at the EURO 2021. The summer tournament that was reprogrammed from last year due to the pandemic is happening in June. Contrary to the Copa America, Europe is doing most of their vaccination work correctly. This means that most of the countries involved in the tournament are safe to host the squads.
Initially, Gareth Southgate calle 33 players to a camp where he would eventually cut seven names. These players are James Ward-Prowse, Ollie Watkins, Ben Godfrey, Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale, and Jesse Lingard. Plus, Mason Greenwood steps down from the list due to a recent injury. In the end, Southgate announced the final 26-player list earlier on Tuesday. He spoke about the players he cut and how difficult it was to let them know the news.
Southgate had a hard time telling Lingard.
As par The Guardian, this is what Southgate had to say: “You never want to give bad news. It’s lovely to give people debuts and bring them into the squad for the first time, but it’s much harder to deliver difficult news. With the lads this time – there were three who knew they were coming in for the experience of training with us and for these two matches – and we’re really pleased with Ben White, Ben Godfrey and Aaron Ramsdale. They have added a lot to the group. For me personally, it was very difficult to speak to Jesse Lingard, who has given so much for England over a long period of time.
“James Ward-Prowse, who has captained the under-21s, and Ollie Watkins, who has had a tremendous season with Aston Villa. Those three, I gave them the option of going home, but they were all adamant they wanted to stay and be a part of the group. I think Jesse will probably start tomorrow. Their commitment and professionalism has been exemplary and it meant yesterday afternoon when I had the conversation with those players, although they were disappointed, they knew where they stood and the atmosphere around the camp has stayed positive.”
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