England manager Gareth Southgate has chosen the 26 players he will take to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, just 11 days out from the Three Lions' opening Group B match against Iran.

Among the most surprising inclusions in the side are Leicester midfielder James Maddison and Newcastle striker Callum Wilson, neither who has featured for the national team since 2019.

Notable omissions include Tammy Abraham, Jarrod Bowen, Marc Guehi, Tyrone Mings, Jadon Sancho, Fikayo Tomori, Ivan Toney and James Ward-Prowse.  

"We think we have everything covered"

Heading to his second World Cup as manager of the Three Lions, Southgate, speaking from St. George's Park, gave his opinion on the squad as a whole.

"We've wanted to make sure we have the balance right. In this day and age squad is more important than ever, with five subs you can change almost half your team.

"You want different things at different stages of matches and at different stages of the tournament.

"We've had to cover a couple of players who aren't fully match fit, so having 26 meant we were able to take some risks we weren't able to with 23.

"We think we have the cover we need, we are lighter on depth in some areas than others in our country, but we think we have everything covered."

Southgate on Maddison inclusion

Speaking on why he decided to take Maddison, Southgate stated "He is playing really well. We think he can give us something slightly different to the attacking players that we've got.

"He's playing as good as any of the attacking players in this country. He is a little bit different to the others. I think we could need that."

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The 25-year-old has the most goal involvements amongst English players in the Premier League since August 2021 with 30 (18 goals, 12 assists).

Three Lions boss on selecting Wilson over Abraham

Wilson has six goals and two assists in 16 appearances for Newcastle this season, helping to lead the Magpies to third in the Premier League and indicated his inclusion over Tammy Abraham came down to current form.

"Tammy's had a poor run of scoring form at the wrong time, really, and it's not a case of that we are three or four weeks away from a finals and the start of the first match.

"We are now ten days away so form could be more important.

"We are watching their club form, but we don't really know where the players are until we see them face-to-face and until we see them on the training pitch. We got regular medical updates from their clubs but there will be medical issues that we are not completely aware of yet.

"We know the form we are seeing in matches, but even so, you still don't get the full picture from the players until you are able to speak to them, work with them and see how they train with each other." 

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Full England squad

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, Nick Pope

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Coady, Eric Dier, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker, Ben White 

Midfielders: Jude Bellingham, Conor Gallagher, Jordan Henderson, Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice

Forwards: Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, James Maddison, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Callum Wilson

Final thoughts

While the selections of Maddison, Wilson and Conor Gallagher are the headlines, the other noticeable feature of the 26-man squad is the versatility that Southgate has at his disposal.

Ben White is one of four fully fit full-backs in the squad and he provides the Three Lions gaffer with the ability to play either center-back or right-back.

Gallagher also provides cover for Kalvin Phillips, who hasn't featured much for Manchester City after undergoing shoulder surgery in mid-September.

Experience is also noticeable as this England has a combined 820 caps, second-most after the 2010 team, who had 821. The 73 percent retention rate between Euro 2020, where England reached the final and this World Cup is the highest between major tournaments.

The average age of the Three Lions is 26 years and 153 days, just 48 days younger than the 1966 World Cup champions. Jordan Henderson, Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker are the oldest members of the team at 32 while Jude Bellingham is the youngest at 19.

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