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Rio Ferdinand Names His England Euros Squad: Trent Alexander-Arnold Is In, Big Names Miss Out

Rio Ferdinand Names His England Euros Squad: Trent Alexander-Arnold Is In, Big Names Miss Out

Ex-Manchester United man makes his 26-man England selection for this summer.

Alex Reid

Alex Reid

Rio Ferdinand has named the 26-man squad he would take to this summer's European Championship - and Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold makes the cut.

Right-back is a position where England have a surplus of talent and Gareth Southgate came under serious criticism for not including Alexander-Arnold in his most recent England squad.

But by picking the Liverpool ace, as well as Chelsea's Reece James, Ferdinand has left out two experienced England internationals with neither Manchester City's Kyle Walker nor Atletico Madrid right-back Kieran Trippier making the cut.

Rio, who made his selection on BT Sport, did admit that Walker would be justifiably furious with him.

"Walker I think would be the unlucky one in my squad - and he'd have really good grounds to ring me up and give me a piece of his mind," said Ferdinand of a player who's currently first choice with the team who recently sealed the Premier League title and play in a Champions League final at the end of May.

Ferdinand's most surprising defensive is Everton's Ben Godfrey, the 23-year-old centre-back who is yet to win a senior England cap, ahead of the likes of Conor Coady, Eric Dier and Tyrone Mings.

However the ex-Manchester United man, who won 81 caps for England, explained that he wanted to blood some of England's young stars. That includes teenagers Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham, who both make Rio's squad.

"I'm looking ahead as well, not just this tournament," he explained. "This has been a bit of a weird lead-up - I'm looking at this as almost a free hit for someone like Gareth.

"You can introduce some young players, give them experience, really expose them to what a tournament is like."

Mason Greenwood also makes Ferdinand's final 26, while Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins - who made his England debut in March - and Leeds United's Patrick Bamford both miss out, despite strong Premier League seasons.

Also among the names absent is Jesse Lingard, who has rediscovered his goalscoring form during a loan spell at West Ham.

Ferdinand's full 26-man England squad is below or you can watch him make his selections here.

Goalkeepers

Jordan Pickford

Dean Henderson

Nick Pope

Defenders

Trent Alexander-Arnold

Reece James

John Stones

Harry Maguire

Michael Keane

Ben Godfrey

Luke Shaw

Ben Chilwell

Midfielders

Jack Grealish

Mason Mount

Declan Rice

Jude Bellingham

Jordan Henderson

Kalvin Phillips

Phil Foden

Bukayo Saka

James Maddison

Forwards

Harry Kane

Raheem Sterling

Marcus Rashford

Jadon Sancho

Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Mason Greenwood

Do you agree with Rio's England selection? Let us know in the comments.

All imagery: PA Images/BT Sports

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Topics: Trent Alexander Arnold, Premier League, England, Rio Ferdinand