ENGLAND hero Paul Gascoigne has named his favorite Three Lions players from the current crop of stars.
However, Gazza would be heartbroken to learn that three of his selections did not make Gareth Southgate’s final 26-man squad for Euro 2024 in Germany.
Gascoigne, 57, was appearing on The rest is football podcast as a special guest alongside the usual suspects, Gary Lineker, Micah Richards and Alan Shearer.
And after recalling some stories from his time in England, Richards asked Gascoigne who his favorite players were among the current crop of English talent.
Gascoigne sheepishly admitted he only knew a few before revealing the first of his choices.
He said, “I like [Jack] Grealish because he always wants to be on the ball.
“[Jude] Bellingham, I’d never heard of him to be fair, except for the last two games.
“Honestly, I did an interview and they said, ‘What do you think of Bellingham’ and I said, ‘Who is he?’
“It was only a few weeks ago but I saw him play for Real Madrid and he was quality when he played for them, he is good.
“Of course I like [Marcus] Rashford, I just wish he would smile every now and then.
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“He has great talent, but I think if he brightened up a little, he would be even better.”
Gazza continued: “I like the goalkeeper (Jordan Pickford).
“I like the Peter Beardsley lookalike, him at the back, at fullback, what’s his name?”
Lineker and Richards chimed in and simultaneously said: “[Harry] Maguire.”
Gascoigne, who scored ten goals in 57 appearances for England, added: “Yes, Beardsley lookalike, he’s not bad.”
Host Lineker then joked, “Why you didn’t join the analytics department, I can’t understand.”
The comment provoked laughter in the group, but Gazza replied: “I tried, but remember I was expelled.
“I was offered a job at Sky, the money was good, but have you tried doing the washing up in winter?”
Gazza’s comments suggest that Three Lions Euro 2024 would have been very different if he had been in charge of the team instead of Southgate.
This is because Southgate snubbed Rashford from his provisional squad, before Grealish and Maguire were dropped from the squad, with the latter forced out through injury.
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