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Whenever England exit a major competition, you often find newspapers and websites – just for a bit of fun – trying to guess what the next tournament squad might look like. Leafing back through the predictions from three years ago, offers a pretty decent snapshot of which players were expected to kick on: those whose ascent was foreseen and those who came largely out of nowhere.

Most correspondents correctly expected England’s Euro 2020 squad to be based around the core who went to Russia. The near‑unanimous inclusion of Dele Alli is an indication of just how far his stock has fallen. There were high hopes for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Joe Gomez, Ryan Sessegnon. Quite a few took a punt on Phil Foden, Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho. But there is one name absent; largely because he had just turned 15 years old.

Related: Euro 2020: your complete guide to all 622 players

Related: England’s Euro fate is preordained but I’ll still support them all the way | Max Rushden

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