Grealish a surprise but absence of Harry Maguire will hurt

Gareth Southgate had already discarded some old favourites in his Euro 2024 squad but will have to do without one of his key lieutenants in Germany

Inevitably, the headlines focused on Jack Grealish, as did plenty of the discussion with Gareth Southgate after what had been a horribly trying 24 hours or so. Nobody has ever pretended that to be the England manager is straightforward. Picking a squad for a major tournament is a time to reinforce that.

This time last year, Grealish was preparing for the Champions League final as an integral part of Pep Guardiola’s starting Manchester City team. It was the third and final step towards treble-winning immortality which, as everybody knows, he and the team took.