“Luke, I’m sorry to tell you this son…”
Gareth Southgate has announced his 27-strong England U21 European Championship squad for this summer’s tournament in the Czech Republic.
Manchester United’s Luke Shaw is out, but Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha, Tottenham’s Harry Kane, Everton’s John Stones, Arsenal’s Calum Chambers and West Brom’s Saido Berahino are all included.
Southgate says Shaw has not been dropped; he’s just not fit enough to play:
“Luke was always very keen to come and Louis [van Gaal] was supportive, but medically he was not fit to come.
“I knew that last Friday. It’s a shame, but we were always going to lose somebody.”
Shaw was taken off concussion during United’s win at Crystal Palace last weekend, but the tournament doesn’t begin until June 17th – the friendly with Belarus is on the 10th. We’re no experts but surely that allows plenty of time for Shaw to recover?
Kane is in the squad despite Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino’s request for him not to be selected. The 21-year-old has played 52 times this season, scoring 31 goals.
If he plays in the summer and gets picked for the full England squad in Euro 2016, Kane will have played a lot of football.
Spurs must be fuming.
The provisional England Under-21 squad in full…
Goalkeepers: Marcus Bettinelli (Fulham), Jonathan Bond (Watford), Jack Butland (Stoke City)
Defence: Calum Chambers (Arsenal), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Luke Garbutt (Everton), Ben Gibson (Middlesbrough), Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal, on loan at West Ham United), Michael Keane (Burnley), Liam Moore (Leicester City), John Stones (Everton), Matt Targett (Southampton)
Midfield: Tom Carroll (Tottenham Hotspur, on loan at Swansea City), Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea), Will Hughes (Derby County), Jake Forster-Caskey (Brighton & Hove Albion), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Alex Pritchard (Tottenham Hotspur), Nathan Redmond (Norwich City), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton)
Forwards: Benik Afobe (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Patrick Bamford (Chelsea, on loan at Middlesbrough), Saido Berahino (West Bromwich Albion), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Danny Ings (Burnley), Cauley Woodrow (Fulham).