Gary Neville and podcast co-hosts Roy Keane and Ian Wright have given their verdicts on who they think could return to the England squad now the World Cup is over.
Back in May, Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel named his 26-man group for the tournament in the United States.
It resulted in some big names being left out of the squad, including the likes of Harry Maguire, Cole Palmer, and Phil Foden.
Tuchel will have learned a lot from his squad during the eight games in North America, and his next game will be in September when England face Spain, Croatia and Czechia twice in the first international break of the season.
And he may choose to chop and change with who he selects. Neville, though, questioned on Stick to Football, brought to you by SkyBet, whether it will be easy to do that.
‘Do you think, when they leave the tournament, it is all rosy there?’ Neville asked. ‘If Palmer comes back, if Trent (Alexander-Arnold) comes back, if Foden comes back. Do you think there is something there that could raise its head in September?’
A number of snubbed England players could return to the squad following the World Cup
Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Ian Wright have given their verdicts on stars potentially rejoining the fold
Keane replied: ‘Honeymoon is over, isn’t it? When they get together in September, there will still be questions about the World Cup and the manager and the decisions he made. Do Maguire, Palmer, all these players he left out, do they all come back in?’
Players who missed out on selection will have more of a chance to impress Tuchel in the early weeks of the season, returning to pre-season early after having their summer breaks earlier in the off-season.
Maguire, for example, has already played for United in pre-season – captaining the side in a 1-0 defeat by Wrexham at the weekend – while those who played at the World Cup are now embarking on a three-week break.
‘If they start the season well, they’re good enough to be in the squad,’ Wright concluded. ‘You’ve got to be a bit vexed.
‘It’s up to the manager to get them back on-side: “I’ve made those decisions for whatever”. You’ve got to make them want to come back – it is their country they’re playing for now. He’s just the manager.’
Neville opted to single out Maguire, who was perhaps a shock omission from the squad.
He went onto voice his displeasure at the decision, detailing an awkward conversation he had with Tuchel when he found out.
Fans will never know if Maguire could have helped them – but it remains to see if he will return to the fold while Tuchel is in charge.
Neville was keen to single out Harry Maguire, who made his disappointment at missing out on a spot clear
‘They did lack leadership in the centre of defence, that got them out of the box,’ Neville said. And maybe Harry couldn’t have done that either.
‘Maybe he wouldn’t have won that header that went over the top of John Stones. Maybe he wouldn’t have got them five yards up the pitch. But he was more likely to have probably won that header and got them five yards up the pitch than probably the others.’
As the conversation came to an end, Keane couldn’t resist a light-hearted jibe at Maguire.
‘I want to know how deep he was defending against Wrexham yesterday,’ said the former Manchester United captain.
One player who will certainly be in the squad is Jude Bellingham. The Real Madrid midfielder was the Three Lions’ top scorer with seven goals and was almost undoubtedly their star player.
So much so that he saved England, according to Neville.
‘I think look probably apart from Haaland, if you take out Bellingham and Haaland out, without Haaland Norway would have probably not qualified out the group, but England could have literally sank and tanked if they didn’t have Bellingham.
‘You think about the influence he had on getting them through these tough games.’
