Fikayo Tomori couldn’t resist a wry smile when an AC Milan fan chanted ‘F*** Southgate’ after the England star was left out of their Euro 2024 squad.
Last week, Gareth Southgate announced his 33-man provisional squad for this summer’s European Championships, which will be cut down to 26 in the coming days.
There were several surprise inclusions and notable omissions, with Jordan Henderson, Marcus Rashford and Ben Chilwell among those left out.
Also failing to make the cut was Tomori, who has struggled to establish himself in Southgate’s team despite impressive performances for Milan, where he was pivotal to their Serie A title win in 2022.
The centre-back has only been capped five times since his international debut in 2019 and was left out of the squads for Euro 2020 and World Cup 2022.
His omission is particularly strange given the Three Lions’ defensive frailty and the inclusion of the inexperienced Jarrad Branthwaite, Ezri Konsa and Jarell Quansah, and the out of form Harry Maguire and Lewis Dunk.
The 26-year-old is currently on a post-season tour of Australia, and after one match went over to the stands to meet fans and sign autographs, when a few supporters began to serenade the defender – and slam the England boss.
‘We love you Tomori! F*** Southgate!’ was chanted several times, to which Tomori smiled, chuckled a little and shook his head, prompting laughter from other fans.
The defender made 35 appearances across all competitions in 2023/24, helping his side to second-place in the Serie A table.
His last cap for England came against North Macedonia last November and his chances of going to the Euros took a big blow when he was not included in the squad for the March friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.
Fans on social media were not impressed by Tomori’s snub, with Austin Park posting on Twitter: ‘Absolutely no idea how this guy isn’t even in the provisional squad, madness.’
‘He could win the league, UCL, main reason for AC Milan success and still not get chosen,’ @UTD_Nazir wrote.
@franconuteo added: ‘Poor guy. Should have been playing Copa America in 2 weeks with Canada, had he chosen right,’ referencing that the player was also eligible to play for the North American nation having been born in Calgary.
While the former Chelsea star gets set for a quiet summer, Southgate’s side are gearing up for their pre-tournament friendlies against Bosnia and Iceland next week before they fly out to Germany.
England have been drawn in Group C against Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia, with their first game against the former taking place on Sunday 16 June.
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