It was a brutal cull of former England football favourites that ignited outrage, with fans joining axed players and their stunned families in disbelief.
Now Manchester City star Phil Foden’s young son Ronnie is the latest to voice his distress at manager Thomas Tuchel leaving his father out of the squad, which is heading to the World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico next month.
On Friday afternoon, the seven-year-old shared with his 4.1million Instagram followers a fan’s letter to his father, which outlines their shock at Foden being dropped.
The note says: ‘Missing out on a major tournament is bound to hurt and we will never know how much it does, but we do know you are an incredible footballer who is going through a tough time which is allowed, nobody’s perfect.
‘Keep your head up, don’t let the negativity and noise around your performance bring you down.’
Ronnie, whose mother is Foden’s childhood sweetheart Rebecca Cooke, highlighted the post with the message: ‘Beautiful words.’
Alongside Foden, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer and West Ham star Jarrod Bowen, the biggest shock was the omission of Manchester United’s Harry Maguire, 33, who has won 67 caps for England and was a mainstay of the defence under previous manager Gareth Southgate.
Before the announcement was made, Maguire publicly said he had been left ‘shocked and gutted’ by the decision. And on Friday, his wife Fern posted on social media: ‘Beyond devastated for you. There was nothing else you could have possibly done to prove your worth.’
Phil Foden was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup this summer
The Manchester City player’s son, seven-year-old Ronnie, shared a fan’s letter with his 4.1million Instagram followers which outlined their shock at his father’s omission
His brother Laurence, who plays for League Two side MK Dons, added: ‘Shambles.’
Tuchel, who admitted he was ‘a bit surprised’ by Maguire’s outburst, instead chose Manchester City’s Marc Guehi and Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa, as well as Djed Spence of Tottenham and Newcastle’s Dan Burn.
Also picked were Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, both of whom have wives who stay out of the limelight and don’t conform to the archetypal ‘footballer’s WAG’ image.
With this year being the 20th anniversary of the WAG takeover in Baden-Baden led by Victoria Beckham, some football insiders are wondering whether a contributing factor behind Tuchel’s decisions is his desire to avoid a similar circus surrounding his squad as that in Germany during World Cup 2006.
His selection cull may well silence any external noise harming the chances of the Three Lions bringing home the trophy in what will be the 60th anniversary of England’s 1966 World Cup triumph over West Germany at Wembley.
In March, Maguire was handed a 15-month suspended sentence by a Greek court when he was convicted of non-serious assault, resisting arrest and attempted bribery after he got in a fight while on holiday in Mykonos in 2020.
Maguire has always denied wrongdoing and at the time the sentence was handed down, said he planned to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Foden himself has also been caught up in his fair share of trouble. In September 2020, he and former Manchester United player Mason Greenwood were sent home from England’s team camp in Iceland after they invited two Icelandic women to the team hotel, breaking strict Covid rules.
