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Euro 2020 starts in June but some high-profile stars are set to be dropped from their national team squads despite their good form. European sides like England, France, Belgium, Germany and Italy have droves of talent and believe it or not, it is going to be difficult for the national team managers to choose a 26 player squad.
This has been quite a testing season for several players. There wasn't much of a break between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons and a lot of factors, including fatigue and momentum, have had a telling effect on the form of several top players.
All Euro 2020 squads will be announced shortly
We're less than a month away from Euro 2020 and the national team squads are set to be announced. Without further ado, let's take a look at five high-profile stars who could be dropped from their national team squads for Euro 2020.
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#5 James Maddison (Leicester City)
James Maddison has had a topsy-turvy season. After starting the season on a bright note, the Leicester City attacking midfielder's contributions have dwindled to a trickle and he is likely not to feature in the Three Lions' squad for Euro 2020.
Maddison's downturn in form has seen him get dropped from the Leicester City starting XI in recent times. In fact, he didn't even start the FA Cup final against Chelsea last Saturday. To make matters worse for Maddison, a certain Jesse Lingard has been turning heads and making quite an impression.
Despite being sidelined entirely for the first half of the season at Manchester United, Lingard continued to work hard behind the scenes and secured a loan move to West Ham in January. Lingard has scored nine goals and provided three assists in 14 Premier League appearances for the Hammers.
Gareth Southgate admires Lingard too and the midfielder played a big role in England's run to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018. With Jack Grealish, Mason Mount and Phil Foden also strong contenders for the role of attacking midfielder at Euro 2020, Maddison is all set to miss out.
#4 Isco (Real Madrid)
Most people are in agreement that Isco should have left Real Madrid a while back. While the midfielder has offered flashes of genius, he has never been able to sustain it for a considerable period of time. With the likes of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos in the side, Isco has always faced an uphill battle to become a mainstay in the starting XI.
Isco has fallen out of favour under Zinedine Zidane and has started just eight matches in La Liga this season. He hasn't scored a single goal this term and has provided just two assists.
The Spaniard has been used as a substitute 16 times. Isco, quite simply, does not have enough match practice to be playing for Spain at Euro 2020.
#3 Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Manchester United)
Aaron Wan-Bissaka is easily one of the best one-on-one defenders in the Premier League. But despite calls for him to be picked in the Euros, Southgate is likely to snub the Manchester United right-back.
The 23-year-old is yet to make his debut for the England national side. The youngster, who has previously been criticized for being lacking in the attacking department, has improved in that aspect over the course of the season.
Wan-Bissaka has scored two goals and provided four assists in the Premier League this season and has been one of the most consistent players in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's squad. He has also been praised for his performances in big games and he could be an asset to the Three Lions when they come up against teams with a raft of attacking talent like France or Belgium.
However, England have a wealth of right-backs and after being consistently overlooked by Southgate up until now, the chances of the Manchester United man making the squad are minimal.
#2 Saul Niguez (Atletico Madrid)
Saul Niguez signed a nine-year contract with Atletico Madrid in 2017. You read that right. The club simply trusted him enough to hand him that long a deal. However, his form has dipped this season and the midfielder is even tipped to leave the club this summer.
Niguez's technical skills, physicality and tactical intelligence endeared him to Diego Simeone. There is no doubting the commitment or loyalty of a player who played with an internal catheter for two years and urinated blood after every match and training session.
Saul, who has been a key player for Atletico Madrid for five seasons, has only started 21 La Liga matches this season. He has hit a rough patch and has turned in several poor performances this term. This has coincided with Simeone choosing to adopt a more offensive approach, which is quite a departure from his philosophy up until this season.
Saul has also been deployed in various positions this season, including central midfield, defensive midfield and even as a left-winger on multiple occasions but he has never really clicked this campaign.
Niguez also opened up on a confidence crisis in January, which leads us to believe that he is not in the best state to feature for Spain in the Euros either. After a shock defeat against Cornella, he said:
"The team is in a good place right now but I am not."
#1 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Despite an upturn in form in recent weeks, Trent Alexander-Arnold is likely to be dropped from tEngland squad. Southgate has preferred the likes of Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker and Reece James and despite the squad size being increased to 26, he is unlikely to add an extra right-back to the squad.
Trent did not help his case either for the majority of the season. He was in and out of form and his defensive capabilities were constantly questioned. But there's no doubt that there are few better crossers of the ball than the Liverpool right-back in the Premier League right now.
David Ornstein has opined in an article in The Athletic that despite Trent showing improvement in recent weeks, he hasn't done enough to leapfrog the other candidates in the mind of the England manager.
It is claimed Trent Alexander-Arnold does not help provide the balance that Southgate seeks to have in his side. As a result, he is likely to become a casualty.
