Harry Kane the only Bundesliga player in England's Euro 2024 squad
Southgate has opted to name a larger 33-man squad before trimming it down to 26 in time for the UEFA deadline on June 7th.
In his provisional squad Southgate has selected the Bayern Munich and record England goal scorer Harry Kane to play alongside the likes of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden for three Lions this Summer.
Kane is coming off the best scoring season of his career, netting 44 in all competitions this season for the Bavarian side and picking up the Bundesliga top scorer award along the way. However, the England captain is in a race to be fit for England’s opening fixture against Serbia on the 16th of June having sustained a back injury in Bayern’s second leg defeat in the Champions league semi-final to Real Madrid.
One player who will be disappointed not to make the squad is Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho who has looked like a different player since his return on loan to BVB in January. The winger looked back to his best in black and yellow particularly during his performance in the first leg of the champions league semi-final against PSG where he recorded a competition high 12 successful dribbles in the 23/24 season against Les Parisiens as Dortmund went on to win the game 1-0. However, the tricky winger was not included in the squad for this Summers tournament.
Also missing out is Eric Dier who had fell out of favour with the England boss having not been selected since being included in England’s World Cup squad for the 2022 world cup. However, the Centre Back has looked revitalised since his January switch to the 2023 Bundesliga champions from Tottenham Hotspur although has been left out in favour of a crop of younger defenders including Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite, Liverpool’s Jarrell Quansah and Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi who will look to make the final cut come June 7th.
When asked about Dier’s omission from the squad Southgate said, “we think he’s just behind the other guys we’ve selected”.
England will go into Euro 2024 as one of the favourites to lift the trophy for the first time in Berlin on the 14th of July with no doubt that the Kane will have a large influence on whether the three lions can make this tournament a success.