England Euro 2024 squad announcement LIVE: Marcus Rashford axed but Adam Wharton included in training team

Henderson, who was England vice-captain and who has won 81 caps, has not missed a major tournament since the 2010 World Cup but has had a difficult season, first joining Al-Ettifaq and then leaving after six months to sign for Ajax. Southgate had remained loyal to both the midfielder and forward Rashford as they have struggled at club level until taking the dramatic decision to drop both.

Gareth Southgate has confirmed an initial 33-man group, from which he’ll pick 26 players for England at Euro 2024:

Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, James Trafford.

Defenders: Jarrad Branthwaite, Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Harry Maguire, Jarell Quansah, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker.

Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Gallagher, Curtis Jones, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice, Adam Wharton.

Forwards: Jude Bellingham, Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, James Maddison, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins.

Gareth Southgate just a few minutes away from addressing the media and confirming those in…and out. And why there’s such a large group, perhaps.

Portugal named theirs earlier – a straight 26, no messing, all done bar late injuries.

A reminder that England’s training squad will be officially announced at 2pm BST – 10 minutes from now – and Gareth Southgate will be speaking to explain his decisions.

We’ll have all the live updates from the press conference as it happens.

Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa is set to be included in England’s training squad, to be announced very shortly. Along with John Stones, Lewis Dunk and an injured Harry Maguire, Konsa joins Chelsea’s Levi Colwill, Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite, Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi and Liverpool’s Jarell Quansah among centre-half options in the group.

That’s an awful lot of players for what will probably be four or five spots, and we’ve had no news on Joe Gomez yet. It would seem Southgate is still very undecided over his defensive options.

No Rashford, no Henderson, while there are call-ups for uncapped players like Adam Wharton, Jarell Quansah and Jarrad Branthwaite. So what does this say about Gareth Southgate’s approach?

The England manager has got most things right during his stint in charge of the national team, but he has come in for criticism over the years for being too loyal to established players and ignoring form. It seems that can’t be levelled at Southgate this time, as he looks to give opportunities to young, hungry talent emerging in the Premier League and moves on from some of his old favourites.

Raheem Sterling and Kalvin Phillips are two more who are going to miss out, and this England squad is going to look have quite a fresh look compared to other recent tournaments.

Euro 2024 is nearly upon us with 24 teams competing to win the Henri Delaunay Trophy in Germany this summer.

The March international break offered some more insight into each nation’s preparation, with Germany’s 2-0 win over France one of the most eye-catching results.

The strongest nations all appear fallible coming into the European Championship, and it is shaping up to be an open tournament with the chance to go deep into the knockout rounds for any side who can get their act together.

Here, The Independent assesses how every nation stacks up ahead of Euro 2024.

Marcus Rashford’s omission is the big talking point – should he be in the squad?

On the one hand, here is a player who has performed well in major tournaments before and has been playing at a high level since he was 17 years old. He has a big bag of career goals to call upon, despite a slow season, and has developed a good relationship with Gareth Southgate over the years.

On the other, his form is simply not as good as a number of other wide forwards in England right now, and Southgate is lucky to have a surplus of talent in that area. Rashford has looked way off his best in terms of goalscoring, creating chances and even simple work rate, and distractions off the field perhaps point to a loss of focus. Maybe a summer break and a chance to reflect might be exactly what Rashford needs right now.

At 26, he has time to feature in major tournaments in the future, and he would not have played many minutes here even if he had been in the squad, given the form of Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and others.

Rashford scored only eight goals all season in a dramatic drop off from his career high of 30 in the previous campaign, and will pay the price this summer in a major shock. Henderson’s move to Ajax to save his international career has meanwhile failed and the 33-year-old is unlikely to play for his country again.

Crystal Palace duo Adam Wharton and Eberechi Eze are set to make the long list, which will also include Liverpool’s Jarell Quansah and Curtis Jones. But Chelsea’s Reece James and Ben Chilwell have been left out.

Southgate will name a large squad today, with several more than the allotted 26 players included, ahead of friendly matches with Bosnia and Herzegovina at St James’ Park on 3 June and Iceland at Wembley on 7 June. The England manager will then finalise his Euros squad with an announcement on Saturday 8 June, six days before the tournament begins.

Rashford may be out of the fold but it’s better news for Jack Grealish, who is included in the training squad despite a stop-start season often spent on the bench for Manchester City.

However, Grealish will still be concerned about his place in the final Euros selection when it’s whittled down to 26 players.