Furious England fans convinced 'key player' won't start EURO 2024 as shirt numbers revealed

England fans are convinced one of the Three Lions’ brightest attacking talents won’t start the European Championships in Germany after shirt numbers for the tournament were revealed.

The morning after an eyebrow-raising 1-0 defeat to Iceland at Wembley, England have confirmed their shirt number for the Euros, a tournament Gareth Southgate’s men will be among the favourites to win.

And, as with every tournament, fans are reading into the squad numbers to decipher Southgate’s selection for the opening game against Serbia.

Marc Guehi will don the No.6 shirt, which suggests he’s more likely to start in defence alongside John Stones than Lewis Dunk, who will wear No.15.

Meanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold has been handed the No.8 shirt, which suggests he could line up in midfield alongside Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham.

However, the Premier League’s Young Player of the Year, Cole Palmer, will wear the No.24 shirt, which fans on social media believe suggests the Chelsea star will merely play a bit-part role in Germany.

One person on X, formally Twitter, said: “Why Palmer 24???”, while another wrote: “Palmer deserved number 8”.

A third said: “Yes Palmer top 3 most creative players in the squad with the worst number.”

A fourth person added: “Palmer done dirty.”

England’s confirmed Euros squad numbers:

1 Jordan Pickford

2 Kyle Walker

3 Luke Shaw

4 Declan Rice

5 John Stones

6 Marc Guehi

7 Bukayo Saka

8 Trent Alexander-Arnold

9 Harry Kane

10 Jude Bellingham

11 Phil Foden

Palmer will wear No.24 in Germany (Getty)

12 Kieran Trippier

13 Aaron Ramsdale

14 Ezri Konsa

15 Lewis Dunk

16 Conor Gallagher

17 Ivan Toney

18 Anthony Gordon

19 Ollie Watkins

20 Jarrod Bowen

21 Eberechi Eze

22 Joe Gomez

23 Dean Henderson

24 Cole Palmer

25 Adam Wharton

26 Kobbie Mainoo

SPORTbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated transfer news channel to send you the latest deals, rumours and more directly on WhatsApp and all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel here for 'SPORTbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.