Jamie Carragher has criticised Gareth Southgate over his failure to include Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite in his England squad for the European Championships, while Wayne Rooney has named a Manchester United player whom he feels will be a major loss.
The Three Lions suffered a timid 1-0 home defeat to Iceland in their final warm-up match at Wembley on Friday evening before their Euro 2024 campaign gets underway next Sunday with a game against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen. Their disappointing display saw England booed from the pitch as Southgate’s attacking line-up failed to break down a strong and resolute Icelandic defence, who scored an excellent goal on the counter-attack as they showed themselves up as potential dark horses in the Germany-staged tournament.
Just 24 hours earlier, Southgate had trimmed down his 33-man provisional squad to just 26 names for the competition, with seven players cut from the original party and with stars of Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United among those disappointed.
However, Carragher suggests Southgate has got it wrong by overlooking Branthwaite, with the classy Everton man having made his debut as a second-half substitute in the 3-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina at St James’ Park on Monday.
Described by Carragher as England’s “present and future”, Carragher feels Southgate has blundered badly leaving him out while the likes of Lewis Dunk of Brighton and Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa made the cut.
Taking to X, formerly, Twitter, Carragher stated: “Lots of bigger names than Jarrad Branthwaite have missed out on the England squad, but he should’ve been picked to go to Euro 2024,” the former Liverpool stalwart posted. “He’s England’s present and future.”
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Branthwaite has enjoyed an excellent breakthrough season at Everton, proving one of the Premier League’s most outstanding young defenders and with Manchester United huge admirers of the 21-year-old.
And while Sir Jim Ratcliffe is keen to strike a deal to bring Branthwaite to Old Trafford this summer, TEAMtalk has revealed that Everton are refusing to budge on their minimum £70m asking price for the defender – making a deal difficult to pull off as things stand.
Carragher has previously labelled Branthwaite as a “special” player and someone he can see going all the way to the very top.
Discussing him on Monday Night Football earlier in the season, he said of the Everton man: “I think he is [special]… He’s a big part of why, in my eyes, Everton still have a great chance of staying up; him and his partnership with [James] Tarkowski.”
Aerially dominant, strong in the tackle and with an excellent reading of the game, it is easy to see why – as an all-too rare left footed centre-half – is a man in demand this summer.
Southgate, however, suggests the Euros have come just a little bit too soon for Branthwaite, stating: “It’s a bit early for Jarrad.
“He has had a fabulous season, it was good to get him on the pitch the other night. But of course, in an ideal world, you’d like that balance of left-footers. For him to be in ahead of the others, I don’t think it would have been the right call at this stage. At left-back, that’s why we’ve taken what I think is a calculated risk with Luke Shaw, one which I think is worth taking.”
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A more established name to miss the cut, and possibly the most controversial of all, is 63-cap star Harry Maguire, whose failure to properly overcome a calf injury has ultimately proved costly.
The Manchester United man has been a hugely-reliable figure for the Three Lions over the years and has lots of experience when it comes to tournament football.
And while Maguire has gone public with his “huge disappointment” at missing out, Rooney feels Maguire’s absence has already been felt, after witnessing what he felt was a disjointed defensive display in the loss to Iceland.
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John Stones and Marc Guehi are likely to be England’s first choice defensive pairing at the tournament, but on only their second start together on Friday – the last being the 4-0 home defeat to Hungary back in June 2022 – Stones withdrew at half-time after an ankle injury.
Now Rooney feels a lack of experience at international level in the heart of defence could cost England.
“Obviously, hopefully John’s okay,” Rooney told Channel 4.
“Tonight, the back line were a little bit disjointed at times and that’s through a lack of experience and again, that’s something I’m sure Gareth and the coaches will be showing them.
“They have to get that right because we’re so excited about the attacking players we’ve got in this team, they have to be backed up by the back line and being aggressive.
“I think tonight actually shows the importance of Harry Maguire to this England team and what a big loss he is to the squad.”
Rooney was then asked if England can win the tournament, to which he replied: “Absolutely”
“As I said before, it’s a very exciting squad, they’ve certainly got the players, they’ve got the firepower.
“I hope the back line is strong, that’s my only concern.
“But I think we’ve got more than enough to take teams head-on and if we do that we’ve got a great chance.”