IN the final international break prior to this summer’s FIFA World Cup, England manager Thomas Tuchel will have nine names to cut before June, whilst some are already left out in the cold.
Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold looks set to miss out on another major international tournament. Late in 2025, Tuchel said that his defensive work limited him and that Valentino Livramento, Reece James and Jarell Quansah trumped him in the pecking order.
The former of which is a centre back by trade, in what must have been a crushing realisation for the right back who scored England’s winning penalty against Switzerland in the Euro 2024 Quarter Finals.
Phil Foden is back in the squad, but the most shocking inclusion is for Brighton’s Jason Steele. He is one of five goalkeepers, but unique in the fact that he has played just two top division games in two years.
He is one of three uncapped players in the squad. The other two are under 21 experienced James Trafford and shock inclusion James Garner.
Kobbie Mainoo returns to the squad; he was last included in September 2024 under Lee Carsley. His omission almost entirely coincided with Ruben Amorim’s disastrous Manchester United reign, but Tuchel has shown faith in him to bring him back after a bright run of form under interim-manager Michael Carrick.
Lewis Hall looks to have clinched Luke Shaw’s England shirt. Shaw had been ever-present when fit under Gareth Southgate, but perhaps his waning years and Hall’s top Newcastle form could spell the end of Shaw’s England career.
Tuchel has revealed: “We decided to divide it into basically two camps, almost, so we bring players in that we haven’t seen who haven’t played so much to open up the picture, and the competition for plane tickets to the U.S.
“Then from Friday and Saturday, a group of players will come into camp – ten or eleven players who get a rest before, and we will then go with a new group and mix of players into the match against Japan.”
England play Uruguay in their first of the two friendlies next Friday.
The squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), James Trafford (Manchester City), Aaron Ramsdale (Newcastle United), Jason Steele (Brighton & Hove Albion).
Defenders: Dan Burn (Newcastle), Marc Guehi (Manchester City), Lewis Hall (Newcastle), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Tino Livramento (Newcastle United), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur), John Stones (Manchester City), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan).
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), James Garner (Everton), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace).
Forwards: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds United), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Noni Madueke (Arsenal), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Dominic Solanke (Tottenham Hotspur).
