Everton man snubbed by England boss in his last Euro's squad

Getting away from the endless stories about who will become the next Everton manager, Ben Godfrey has been left out of England manager Gareth Southgate’s final Euro’s squad.

The Everton defender had been included in the provisional squad announced by Southgate before the two friendlies taking place as final warm-up matches and played in the first match against Romania but was then left out of the squad before the final friendly.

In that game Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold got injured leaving a gap in the squad to be filled and Southgate has chosen another defender to replace him, but it’s not Godfrey, instead it’s Ben White of Brighton.

Nothing against White but he’s not even been included in any previous England squad at any level before making this Euro’s squad. So it’s a strange decision to bring in a total rookie instead of any players who have been in international squads before.

It’s not totally suprising to be honest that the Toffees player is the one to lose out, but it’s a snub to a player who’s had an excellent season for the Blues.

There are debates about whether Southgate should have instead picked another creative midfielder or forward instead of a defender, but if he was looking for natural cover for Alexander-Arnold then Godfrey would have made more sense than White.

And Godfrey can also offer great versatility, which is something that always makes sense during international tournaments when injuries and fatigue build up and adversely affect teams, especially it seems, England teams.

The summer deadline day signing underlined his versatility for Everton this past season when he excelled filling in for Lucas Digne at left-back while also playing well across the rest of the backline at various times.

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I’m not sure what exactly is Godfrey’s best position although despite being right-footed he seems best suited to playing on the left side of the defence, whether that’s full-back or on the left of a centre-back partnership.

He is also an outstanding one-on-one defender with the pace and strength to handle most attackers comfortably.

A defensive three is where he played for Norwich City but he has also operated in midfield before when he was previously on loan and did well there.

It’s a possible option for the Blues to consider as they search for another central midfielder to provide additional cover in the middle and solve a problem they still haven’t sorted out and which is compounded by Jean-Philippe Gbamin’s latest injury. That’s trying to find a deep-lying defensive player who can support and help free up Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure.

This is particularly true looking at all the uncertainly again over who is going to be the new Everton manager and how much money he will have to spend in the transfer market with so many other priorities to deal with.

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