Carsley names first England squad for upcoming Nations League fixtures

Jonathan Victoria • 29 Aug 2024 News

Interim manager not shying away from picking his youngsters…

Carsley names first England squad for upcoming Nations League fixtures

New interim England manager Lee Carsley has named his squad for the upcoming first round of Nations League games this September.

The former England Under-21s head coach is currently overseeing the national team following Gareth Southgate’s departure shortly after the Three Lions’ loss in the Euros final this summer.

Carsley shows no sign of taking things easy though, calling up multiple new names to the team as well as bringing back some who had previously been left out.

Four uncapped players will join the squad: Chelsea’s Noni Maduake, who last week netted a hat trick in his side's 6-2 victory over Wolves, Newcastle’s Tino Livramento, Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White and Lille midfielder Angel Gomes.

Gibbs-White, Gomes and Madueke were part of Carsley’s squad that won the Under-21 European Championship in 2023, and while it is a big call to bring them up to the senior squad, you can understand why he’d want them, considering they are all strong performers for their club teams as well.

As for players who have received a recall, the most notable name is Jack Grealish, who controversially missed out on a place in the 2024 Euro squad.

Harry Maguire and Nick Pope have also found their way back into the squad, the latter due to being back from an injury that kept him out for an extended time, and the former due to his emergence as a starter for Manchester United to start this season.

Not making the cut

Of course, new inclusions mean that some players have been dropped from the side. Marcus Rashford once again found himself out of the scope of England after failing to make the preliminary squad for Euro 2024. While the new season is still young, he has failed to make any sort of impact on the struggling Man United side.

Other absentees include Ben White (although it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him never feature again after refusing a call-up earlier in the year) and Kieran Trippier, who announced his international retirement shortly before the squad was announced, likely having already been told of his omittance.

Soon-to-be Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was also left out, as were Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez, Adam Wharton and the injured Luke Shaw, who were all part of the summer Euros squad.

Unfortunately for England though, Jude Bellingham is not included in the squad due to a calf injury he sustained in training.

One last interesting note from the squad is that Trent Alexander-Arnold has been listed as a defender once again. Southgate previously listed him as a midfielder and played him as such during the Euros, but his performances in the role seemingly did not convince Carsley as he moves back to join the defensive line.

Opening games & squad

England will head to the Republic of Ireland for their first match of the new Nations League campaign on Saturday 7th September before coming back home as they welcome Finland to Wembley on Tuesday 10th September.

The Three Lions are heavily favoured in both matches as they are for their entire group of the competition, and hopefully, they will deliver in all six.

Here is the full squad for the upcoming fixtures:

Goalkeepers