9 players we can’t believe ever played for England under Gareth Southgate

During Gareth Southgate’s tenure with England, he has capped a total of 99 players. We’ve looked into the archives and picked out nine players you will have probably forgotten ever played for the Three Lions under him.

Having taken over in 2016, Southgate has taken England to the final of both Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, alongside a World Cup semi-final in 2018.

The England manager has the luxury of naming some of the best players of their generation, although it’s fair to say this lot don’t meet that criteria…

Considering how stacked England’s midfield now is, it is easy to forget where we were just a few years ago.

Jake Livermore made his England debut way back in 2012, but he was only given one cap by Roy Hodgson.

Five years later, he was then handed six caps by Southgate. In 2018, Livermore was even named as one of the five players on standby for England’s World Cup squad.

You might remember Townsend’s purple patch in an England shirt, but that was long before Southgate.

The winger managed to sneak into Southgate’s first England squad and made two appearances off the bench. He played a total of 53 minutes under Southgate and made his last appearance in November 2016 in a 2-2 draw with Spain.

His goal on his England debut wasn’t too shabby either.

Off the back of his most prolific season with Leeds United, Patrick Bamford managed to earn a solitary cap for England.

The Leeds forward scored 17 Premier League goals throughout the 2020-21 campaign.

His England debut came against Andorra, where he started and played a total of 62 minutes. An injury then derailed the following season for Bamford and subsequently his chances of getting back into the England squad.

Lewis Cook was tipped to have a bright international career after he captained the Young Lions to the Under-20 World Cup in 2017.

The central midfielder earned his first England cap in 2018 in a friendly against Italy. Cook was included in Southgate’s standby squad for the 2018 World Cup, but he ultimately didn’t make the cut.

As a result of a series of injuries and Bournemouth being relegated, Cook never got his chance to play for England again.

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A Premier League stalwart at West Ham, Cresswell won all three of his England caps during the early days of Southgate’s reign.

The left-back made his debut against Spain in a 2016 friendly and played in matches against France and Lithuania the following year.

Despite a relative dearth of left-backs, the England manager has not seen fit to recall Cresswell to the squad since 2017.

Prior to Southgate’s appointment as England manager, McCarthy had been involved with the national team set-up but had never received a cap.

Nearly five and a half years after his first call-up to the England squad, McCarthy made his England debut in 2018 against the United States.

You’d be forgiven for not remembering Chalobah’s short stint with England.

Southgate was a big fan from his days as the Under-21s coach but, unfortunately, the way Chalobah’s club career has panned out meant that he was unlikely to ever play a prominent role in the senior set-up,

The midfielder racked up a total of six minutes and 54 seconds for his country as he was brought on as a stoppage-time substitution against Spain back in 2018.

Martin Kelly holds the record for the shortest-ever England stint at six minutes and 53 seconds, one second less than Chalobah managed.

Having spent his last two seasons playing in the Championship, Chalobah never received another England cap.

We don’t have any recollection of this one either.

Jack Cork claimed his solitary England cap back in November 2017 against Germany. The Burnley midfielder was brought on as an 86th-minute substitute and then never played for England again.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been involved in the England setup since the under-17s level.

The Arsenal man first got his chance in the senior team in August 2020 and he went on to make five appearances for England. Four of his five appearances were as a substitute and he made all of his appearances in 2020.