Four Liverpool players are included in England’s tentative 33-man playing squad for the upcoming Euro 2024, but there are also a few mild surprises among those who were left off the roster.

Trent Alexander-Arnold is the least surprising Red on the list, and he’s joined by fellow defender Joe Gomez. The inclusion of Gomez is likely down to his positional flexibility and ability to play across the defence or even fill in as a defensive midfielder.

More surprising is the inclusion of Curtis Jones, who was a standout for Liverpool early in the season before struggling with an ιnjury setback. While his early play might deserve consideration, it’s surprising given he has yet to earn a senior England cap.

Most surprising is that there is a place in the provisional squad for 21-year-old breakout centre half Jarell Quansah. Many would agree his play merits inclusion, but it’s still surprising to see such a young player with no England caps on the list.

On the other side of the ledger, it’s surprising to see Harvey Elliott left out given his truly superb underlying numbers as a creative, attacking midfielder and that he was one of Liverpool’s standout, in-form players in the second half of the season.

The best explanation for his exclusion is his role, further forward than Jones’, is at England’s position of greatest depth. Still, Southgate did manage to make room for Man United’s Kobbie Mainoo, who by any objective measure simply isn’t at Elliott’s level.

The snub that has the wider football world talking, though, is that of former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who was left off the provisional squad and whose move to join Al-Ettifaq last summer is now sure to go down as an all-time blunder.

The 33-man provisional squad will see seven names trimmed from it, with 26 players the maximum allowable for the final squad, and both Alexander-Arnold and Gomez—due to his positional flexibility—seem the safest Liverpool bets to make the cut.