CRYSTAL Palace have more players in the England squad than for any other tournament in history after four Eagles made the cut for Euro 2024.
Ebere Eze, Marc Guehi, Dean Henderson and Adam Wharton are in Gareth Southgate’s final 26-man squad for the tournament in Germany, which kicks off on June 14, with the Three Lions’ first game two days later against Serbia in Group C.
The quartet were initially in Southgate’s provisional 33-man squad. Southgate has left out James Maddison, Jack Grealish, Harry Maguire, James Trafford, Jarrad Branthwaite, Jarell Quansah and Curtis Jones.
Palace have the most players from one club in the squad. Manchester City and Arsenal are next with three. John Stones, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden for City, and the Gunners’ Aaron Ramsdale, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka.
Guehi, Wharton and Eze played in England’s 3-0 win over Bosnia & Herzegovina on Monday, while Henderson was an unused substitute.
Former Eagle Southgate explained his thought processes after the announcement was made on Thursday.
“The decision on Harry is totally about his physical condition and recovery from the injury. There is no other reason, he is one of our strongest centre-backs,” Southgate said.
“In terms of those that can come in, clearly Marc played the other night, but Ezri Konsa has also had an excellent season at Aston Villa.
“There are various options there.
“I think the decision on picking a squad is always a moment in time and you’re trying to balance experience where we’ve got eleven players who’ve been to three tournaments or more with younger players who are playing so well that we can’t ignore what they’re doing. We’ve always tried to do that.
“Sometimes you perhaps regenerate the group more than you were expecting a couple of months ago, but that’s going to bring and has already brought a hunger, a competitiveness.”
