Hart, Wilshere Dropped As England Name 23-Man World Cup Squad

England coach Gareth Southgate has announced his 23-man final squad for the Russia 2018 World Cup scheduled to hold from 14th – 15th June.

Southgate made the announcement via the official England Twitter handle on Wednesday.

As expected, the likes of Harry Kane, who scored 30 Premier League goals for Tottenham Hotspur this season, Dele Alli, Jamie Vardy, Reheem Sterling, Gary Cahill and Kyle Walker are all included.

However, West Ham’s goalkeeper Joe Hart, Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere and Manchester United defender Chris Smalling were left out in the squad.

The ex-England centre-back Southgate explained his decision to leave out Joe Hart, who has gained 75 caps and featured in the last three major tournaments.

Southgate said: “With Joe, we’ve got three other goalkeepers who have had very good seasons and the decision I was faced with was do I keep Joe in and have experience around the group? Or give the three guys who have basically had a better season a chance?

“We felt the players all needed to be in on merit after their performances this season.”

The squad will meet up on Monday at St George’s Park, apart from the players from Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

Man Utd and Chelsea players will join the squad on May 26 and Liverpool players will train for the first time after the friendlies with Nigeria on June 2 in London.

England face Tunisia, Belgium and Panama all in group G in Russia.

England’s official World Cup 2018 squad:

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope.

Defenders / wing-backs: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Gary Cahill, Fabian Delph, Phil Jones, Harry Maguire, Danny Rose, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker, Ashley Young.

Midfielders: Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Forwards: Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Jamie Vardy, Danny Welbeck.

Stand-by: Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski, Lewis Cook, Jake Livermore and Adam Lallana.