Jordan Henderson has broken his silence after being left out of England's Euro 2024 squad by Gareth Southgate.
Henderson left Liverpool last summer to move to Saudi Pro League side Al Ettifaq, but spent just five months at his new club.
The 33-year-old decided to terminate his contract via mutual consent, joining Dutch giants Ajax on a free transfer.
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Throughout that time, he remained a consistent presence in England squads, although had to withdraw from March's friendlies against Brazil and Belgium through injury.
He only played three more games for Ajax after his return, and was not named in England's 33-man provisional squad for Euro 2024.
Henderson was not the only high-profile omission, with Marcus Rashford, Ben White, Reece James, Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell all also missing out on the initial longlist.
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After Southgate announced his final 26-man squad on Thursday, the former Liverpool captain took to Instagram to send a short message to his team-mates.
He wrote: "Congrats to all the lads who made the squad! Good luck and bring it home boys!"
Speaking about the absences of Henderson and Rashford after announcing his provisional 33-man squad last month, Southgate told BBC Radio 5 Live: "You have to make difficult decisions and you have to keep evolving the squad.
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"Your heart, of course, wants you to take all of those players that have been with you for so long.
"These are difficult calls - you are talking about players who are very good players who have been an important part of what we have done.
"He [Henderson] is a fantastic professional and it was a difficult call to make. He'll be a miss - he's an exceptional individual and fantastic human being.
"The determining factor is the injury he picked up in the last camp. He missed five weeks, and he just hasn't been able to get to the intensity in the games since then."
Topics: Jordan Henderson, Football, England, Euro 2024, Ajax, Gareth Southgate
Ryan Smart