England squad announcement: Gareth Southgates axes Raheem Sterling AGAIN, with in-form James Ward-Prowse left out too… but Bukayo Saka is joined by Ollie Watkins and Jarrod Bowen

• Gareth Southgate has named his squad for Australia and Italy fixtures 
• There is still no place for Raheem Sterling after being omitted last month too
• CLICK HERE to listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ 

Raheem Sterling has again been overlooked by England boss Gareth Southgate for the Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy later this month.

Southgate said the Chelsea forward was ‘not happy’ to be left out of the party for September’s get-together and – at least at this stage – he will play no part against Italy or in the friendly against Australia.

Ollie Watkins was brought back to the England squad following his hat-trick against Brighton last weekend – his second of the campaign after also hitting a treble in the Europa Conference League qualifiers against Hibernian.

Jarrod Bowen was also recalled after starting the season with five goals and one assist in seven league games, while John Stones returns after injury.

Bukayo Saka was also included in the 26-man group despite suffering an injury during Arsenal’s Champions League defeat in Lens on Tuesday.

Raheem Sterling has again missed out on the England squad – after the Chelsea man was overlooked last month

Gareth Southgate has selected his England squad for the matches against Australia and Italy

Jarrod Bowen has won an England recall following a good start to the campaign with West Ham

England squad  

GOALKEEPERS

Sam Johnstone, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale

DEFENDERS

Levi Colwill, Lewis Dunk, Marc Guehi, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Fikayo Tomori, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker

MIDFIELDERS

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jude Bellingham, Conor Gallagher, Jordan Henderson, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice

FORWARDS

Jarrod Bowen, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, James Maddison, Eddie Nketiah, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Ollie Watkins

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Eberechi Eze and Callum Wilson were named in the last squad but both miss out this time due to injury.

When leaving out Sterling on that occasion, Southgate said: ‘It is a difficult call and Raheem is not happy about it. Raheem will always say, ‘I respect your decision’, but he wants to get back in the group.

‘I understood why he wanted to focus on his fitness in June and we’re seeing the benefits of that now. But I’d have to leave somebody out who has done very well for us in order to recall him. I didn’t think that would be right.’

On his omission, a statement from Sterling’s camp read: ‘Raheem will revert to the coach for all comment but would like to reinforce that the decision has been respected. Raheem will continue to focus on his domestic form.’

Speaking after the latest squad announcement, Southgate said he’d not been in touch with Sterling this time.

He added: ‘We spoke before the last squad and we’ve been happy with the wide players’ performances in the last four games in particular and in the two in March. 

‘The team are playing really well and clearly there’s some stability there.

‘We have added Jarrod Bowen in those wide areas, he’s scored five in seven games and is playing really well and with the Australia game as well there’s the opportunity to learn some different things as well.’

Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins has also seen his form rewarded with an England call-up

Bukayo Saka has been included in the squad despite suffering a hamstring injury on Tuesday

On the recall for Watkins, Southgate said: ‘Callum Wilson is carrying an injury and we were not certain he would be available.

‘Ollie has started the season well – he’s hit a bit of scoring form in the last couple of weeks. You have to be careful with that because you can’t just go on recency bias with selection.

‘But he is in good form and obviously coming in on a high and he’s been with us before so we know his character, his personality – he is a good guy around the group.

‘His team are playing well and he’s playing for a team that are really well coached and they are in a good moment.’

With regular left-backs Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell out injured, Southgate spoke about Levi Colwill slotting in there as he does for Chelsea.

He said: ‘We’re conscious that most of his football has been as a centre-back and I think that’s his preference and his strongest position but equally we’re without a lot of experience at left-back and he’s playing there regularly and we’ve got some other centre-backs that can fill in at full-back areas as well.

‘It’s an area where we need to find out a bit about one or two players because that depth in that position in particular in the league is not strong.

‘But we really like Levi – he had a fantastic season last year with Brighton, an excellent Euros with our Under-21s, he’s adapting well to life back at Chelsea and he’s got a real maturity about his game, We’re very hopeful about his future.’

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