The omissions of Jack Grealish and James Maddison from Gareth Southgate’s final, 26-man squad for the European Championship were the most controversial in a fraught 24 hours which the manager described as his hardest in the job, but the absence of Harry Maguire was surely the most consequential.
Grealish and Maddison, for all their charisma and talent, would only have been impact substitutes in Germany, but, when fit, Maguire was a guaranteed starter.
Without one of his favourite sons, Southgate has been left short of top-class defensive options and tournament experience across an exciting but top-heavy squad.
Maguire was cut after the manager learned he would not recover from a calf injury until after England’s three group games in the “best-case scenario”, and it was a wrench for Southgate to axe a player who has always delivered for England when it mattered and remained a bedrock of his back four.
Who could replace Harry Maguire?
The contenders
Marc Guehi
Looks the front-runner, having started Monday’s game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as four of England’s eight qualifiers.
A natural fit on the left side but, to Gareth Southgate’s frustration, could not be tried in March friendlies against Brazil and Belgium because of injury.
Only returned to the Crystal Palace line-up on the final day of the season and then playing in midfield.
Admitted this week he is still rediscovering his rhythm.
Lewis Dunk
Brighton defender was brought back into the fold last autumn, almost five years on from what had been his one and only cap.
Good on the ball but made worrying errors against Brazil and Belgium, the latter when bullied by Romelu Lukaku having been exposed in similar fashion against Roma in the Europa League.
You suspect he would not win the popular vote among fans but Southgate clearly likes him.
Ezri Konsa
Aston Villa man has impressed Southgate in the last two camps, with the manager making a point of name-checking him during several press conferences.
Handed a daunting task on debut against Brazil when sent on as an early injury replacement for Kyle Walker to try to keep Vinicius Jr. in check but coped well.
Has mainly been deployed at full-back across his three caps but is versatile, even if left of centre-back pairing may not be ideal.
Joe Gomez
With 14 caps, is technically the most internationally experienced of the quartet of contenders, though he was only recalled in March after nearly four years in the wilderness.
Ability to play in every position across the backline always had the Liverpool man marked as a useful squad option, but means he has played very little football at centre-back this season.
Looks more likely to see action as full-back cover.
“[Kieran] Trippier has not had 90 minutes yet, [Luke] Shaw is still a gamble,” said Southgate, explaining the decision. “So that would have meant an additional defender as well as Maguire.
“We end up with 10 [defenders] and we are short-changing ourselves elsewhere for a player who is higher risk, is not going to get there anyway. And by the time he is fit, he [has been] out for seven weeks.”
Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi is now the leading contender to partner John Stones at centre-half at the Euros, and expected to be given more minutes in Friday’s second and final warm-up friendly against Iceland at Wembley.
Guehi, who was sidelined for three months until the start of May following knee surgery, has gradually emerged as first change for Maguire or Stones since his debut in March 2022, but he has just 10 caps — and no previous experience at a major tournament.
Southgate’s other options at centre-half are Ezri Konsa, who won his third cap against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday, Joe Gomez and Lewis Dunk.
Brighton defender Dunk, sidelined on Friday, has six caps and struggled against Belgium in March, while Gomez returned in that camp for the first time in four years after his career was severely disrupted by a cruciate ligament injury.
Southgate has insisted that all his central defenders are “ready” to step up, but they are an inexperienced bunch at international level and England could do with Guehi or perhaps Konsa enjoying a breakout tournament, as Maguire did in 2018.
Ben White, the Arsenal defender, may have struggled to get minutes at right-back, where Kyle Walker is still a shoo-in, but he might have genuinely been a contender to start in the middle if he was willing to be called up.
Eric Dier, meanwhile, has fluctuated in form, but finished the season playing well in a Champions League semi-final for Bayern Munich.
Southgate is, arguably, now paying the price for his loyalty to Maguire, having stuck by the 31-year-old for several years in defiance of the form-book, rather than try to bed-in an alternative such as Guehi or Everton youngster Jarrad Branthwaite, who was also cut.
Maguire started all eight of England’s Euro 2024 qualifiers, including the relative walkovers at home to North Macedonia and Malta, while Guehi watched from the bench.
With Shaw not expected to be fit until England’s second group game against Denmark on June 20, having been sidelined since February with a hamstring problem, England face starting the tournament with a back four of Walker, Stones, Guehi and Trippier; not short of experience, but not especially compelling, either.
They are, however, blessed with world-class options further forward, making it hard to really quibble with the axing of Grealish or Maddison.
Southgate’s critics have long wanted the manager to pick on form over reputation, and in selecting Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer, Jarrod Bowen and Anthony Gordon after outstanding domestic seasons, that is exactly what he has done.
Southgate acknowledged that England will be “different” without Maguire; quicker and more agile, surely, but less comfortable at defending set-pieces.
Konsa has shone in Aston Villa’s ultra-high line, but has often been unsettled in the air, while Guehi briefly showed his quality on the ball by stepping into Palace’s midfield at the end of the season but has nothing like Maguire’s towering presence in both boxes.
“We’ll miss Harry’s aerial presence, there’s no doubt about that, but there’s more speed in those guys,” Southgate said.
Stones and his new partner will not have to wait until the knockouts to be tested, with Serbia’s Aleksandr Mitrovic, Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund and Slovenia’s exciting young forward Benjamin Sesko all awaiting in the group stage, which should be a positive for bedding in a new centre-half.
Whoever steps up — most likely Guehi — will have to adapt quickly, with the likes of France surely lying in wait in the knockouts.
