Former Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has claimed ex-teammate Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish’s England omission is “good news”.
The Three Lions announced their 26-man squad for the upcoming European Championships in Germany and among the inclusions, there were surprise exclusions. United defender Harry Maguire failed to recover from a calf injury, while Manchester City attacker Grealish joined Tottenham Hotspur star James Maddison in the list of players left off the plane.
Marcus Rashford has been a consistent member of Gareth Southgate’s side since the former defender took charge of England. However, he wasn’t included in the 33-man training squad for the warm-up matches against Bosnia & Herzegovina or Iceland after a difficult campaign for United.
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England will take on Serbia in the Group C opener before taking on Denmark and Slovenia. Matic retired from international football four years ago but will be watching eagerly what unfolds at Schalke’s VELTINS-Arena on Sunday, June 16 and the 35-year-old believes Southgate’s decisions regarding his United teammate Rashford and Grealish are a boost for the Serbs.
He wrote on X: “I would always like to have players like @MarcusRashford and @JackGrealish in the team, players who can decide the game with one move! Not selected/good news for us.”
“In terms of those coming in there is Lewis Dunk and Marc Guehi,” said Southgate in his post-announcement press conference. “There is also Ezri Konsa who has had an excellent season at Aston Villa.
“He has played him at full-back for some of the recent games but he also played at centre-half for us in March and was outstanding. Joe Gomez can also play in a number of positions.”
United target Jarrad Branthwaite was also a shock exclusion from the squad after a superb campaign with Everton. Brighton & Hove Albion’s Lewis Dunk was selected in his place, prompting criticism for the 53-year-old, Southgate explained: “I think it’s a bit early for Jarrod, he has had a fantastic season and it was good to get him involved and of course in an ideal world you would want a left footer but picking him ahead of the others, for him I don’t think that would have been the right call at this stage.
“And at left back, I think that’s why we have taken a risk with Luke, and I think that it’s a risk worth taking.”