LONDON: England manager Gareth Southgate named four right backs including Trent Alexander-Arnold in his final 26-man squad for the European championship yesterday after dropping in-form attacking midfielder Jesse Lingard and five other players.
Defenders Ben Godfrey and Ben White, goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, forward Ollie Watkins and midfielder James Ward-Prowse failed to make the cut.
Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood was withdrawn earlier due to an underlying injury to whittle the squad down from a provisional 33 named a week ago.
The dropped players will remain in the squad for pre-tournament friendlies in Middlesbrough against Austria tonight and Romania on Sunday.
“We’ve still got two matches to play which they will be involved in and if we pick up injuries that group of players are the ones who are on standby,” said Southgate, adding that Lingard was likely to start against Austria.
Teams competing in Euro 2020 can make unlimited replacements before their first match due to serious injury or illness.
Lingard, a regular at the 2018 World Cup, stood out at West Ham United on loan from Manchester United but England have a wealth of talent up front.
Southgate said he gave Lingard, James Ward-Prowse and Ollie Watkins the option of going home but all wanted to remain in the camp.
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