Tottenham’s James Maddison has been cut from Gareth Southgate’s provisional England squad for Euro 2024, along with Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones.
The pair have both left the England camp, with the squad at Spurs’ Hotspur Way training complex to prepare for Friday’s final warm-up game against Iceland at Wembley.
Maddison was named in Gareth Southgate’s 33-man training group and featured from the bench in Monday’s friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina but was informed on Wednesday that he is among the seven players being cut.
The Tottenham playmaker was included in the squad for the 2022 World Cup but did not feature after struggling with injury.
Maddison started the season in electric form for Spurs after his £40million move from Leicester, directly contributing to eight goals by the start of November, but his season was derailed by an ankle ligament injury suffered in Spurs’ 4-1 defeat by Chelsea.
His omission is a boost to the chances of Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer, Jack Grealish, Anthony Gordon and Jarrod Bowen making the final cut.
Eze caught the eye in the 3-0 win over the Bosnians at St James’ Park, while Bowen is also thought to be in a strong position.
Jones has also been released, having not featured in Monday’s game, leaving youngsters Kobbie Mainoo and Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton with more chance of making the grade.
Jones was in contention to feature in the friendlies against Brazil and Belgium in March but was ruled out through injury.
Southgate must axe five more players before announcing his final, 26-man group on Saturday.
Jones’ Liverpool team-mate Jarell Quansah is expected to be axed, while one of four goalkeepers — likely to be Burnley’s James Trafford — will be cut.
Southgate’s other big calls may be determined by injury, with Manchester United defenders Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire concerns.
Shaw, the only recognised left-back, has not played since January but has handed Southgate a boost by training this week.
Maguire missed the end of the season and it is not clear if he will be fit for England’s Group C opener against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on June 16.
Both Maguire and Shaw were following individual training programmes at Hotspur Way on Thursday, along with Brighton defender Lewis Dunk.
27 players trained fully in advance of the Wembley send-off against Iceland, who missed out on a place at the Euros this summer after their play-off final defeat by Ukraine.
