(Football news) Gareth Southgate announced his World Cup squad as he included in-form Leicester City midfielder James Maddison along with Newcastle striker Callum Wilson and Manchester United player Marcus Rashford. Maddison was a surprising inclusion in the 26-man squad on Thursday as the Leicester playmaker has previously made only one appearance for his country, which was when he came on as a substitute in a European Championship qualifier against Montenegro in 2019. The call up comes after he scored six goals and provided four assists for Leicester this season.

Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford also has found some goalscoring form this season, which has persuaded Southgate to bring him back into the team after he last appeared as a substitute in the Euro 2020 final last July where he missed a crucial spot kick in the final against Italy in the penalty shootout. Newcastle striker Wilson was included along with Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher. Unfortunately, Brentford striker Ivan Toney missed out with Wilson and Rashford preferred over him after he received his first call-up for Nations League fixtures against Italy and Germany in September.

Southgate has selected Kyle Walker, despite the Manchester City defender undergoing an operation on his groin last month. Another surprise was his club-mate Kalvin Phillips, who underwent shoulder surgery in September and has hardly featured for Man City this season. In the absence of Chelsea right back Reece James, Southgate has picked Arsenal defender Ben White. England will begin their World Cup group journey against Asia’s number 1 team in Iran on November 21 before facing the United States and Wales in Group B. 

England will be having no pre-tournament friendlies to determine whether the squad is harmonious or not as they play Iran on November 21. The Three Lions are in Group B, which includes their noisy neighbors Wales, the United States, and Iran. Some notable omissions include the likes of Ivan Toney, Tammy Abraham, James Ward-Prowse, Jadon Sancho and Jarrod Bowen, Tyrone Mings, Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi have also not earned a place.

Gareth Southgate on his overall World Cup squad, "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 that 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 in depth in some areas than others in our country, but we think we have everything covered."

Squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Newcastle), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal)

Defenders: Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw (both Manchester United), Eric Dier (Tottenham), John Stones, Kyle Walker (both Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), Conor Coady (Everton), Ben White (Arsenal), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Mason Mount, Conor Gallagher (both Chelsea), Declan Rice (West Ham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Kalvin Phillips (Manchester City)

Forwards: James Maddison (Leicester), Phil Foden, Jack Grealish (both Manchester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Chelsea), Callum Wilson (Newcastle), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United).

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