PALACE STAR MUST SHINE QUICKLY IF HE'S TO BE ANSWER IN GERMANY

THE omissions of Jack Grealish and James Maddison from Gareth Southgate's final, 26-man squad for the European Championship were the most controversial in a fraught 24 hours which the manager described as his hardest in the job, but the absence of Harry Maguire was surely the most consequential.

- Dan Kilpatrick

Grealish and Maddison, for all their charisma and talent, would only have been impact substitutes in Germany, but, when fit, Maguire was a guaranteed starter.

Without one of his favourite sons, Southgate has been left short of top-class defensive options and tournament experience across an exciting but top-heavy squad.

Maguire was cut after the manager learned he would not recover from a calf injury until after England's three group games in the "best-case scenario", and it was a wrench for Southgate to axe a player who has always delivered for England when it mattered and remained a bedrock of his back four.

"[Kieran] Trippier has not had 90 minutes yet, [Luke] Shaw is still a gamble," said Southgate, explaining the decision. "So that would have meant an additional defender as well as Maguire.

"We end up with 10 [defenders] and we are short-changing ourselves elsewhere for a player who is higher risk, is not going to get there anyway.

And by the time he is fit, he [has been] out for seven weeks." Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi is now the leading contender to partner John Stones at centre-half at the Euros, and expected to be given more minutes in tonight's second and final warm-up friendly against Iceland at Wembley.