The missing piece of England's puzzle: The players who could start alongside Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham & Co at Euro 2024 - ranked

Mount currently feels a long, long way away from the England squad, let alone the starting line-up. The former Chelsea man has endured a miserable debut season with Manchester United, and at this stage it would take something quite special for him to force his way onto the plane to Germany.

In his continuing battle for form and fitness, the midfielder is finally back in action with his club, and it is well-documented that Southgate has favoured Mount in the past. If he can prove his fitness and finally show what he is capable of in the coming months, he might just sneak into the manager's plans.

When it comes to clinging on to his place in the England set-up, Henderson seems to have the resilience of a cockroach. The 33-year-old retained his place despite his ill-fated and controversial move to Al-Ettifaq in the summer, and his subsequent switch to struggling Eredivisie giants Ajax has been enough to keep him in the picture after he jumped ship from Saudi Arabia, despite things going just as badly on the pitch in Amsterdam.

Southgate obviously loves him and there is arguably something to be said for keeping him around for his experience and work ethic, but he should no longer be anywhere near the starting line-up for the Three Lions. He ranks lowly here, but don't surprised to see him in the XI in Germany.

Poor old Phillips. Things have gone from bad to worse for a man who was once a nailed-on starter for Southgate at the base of the England midfield. He sought to revive his club career by joining West Ham on loan in January, having never truly stood a chance of breaking into Pep Guardiola's Man City side, but things have gone awry in east London.

Having been a stalwart of the squad even when he wasn't playing at City, Southgate has now dropped Phillips for the March international break despite him getting regular minutes at the London Stadium, such have been his struggles, admitting Phillips "hasn't been good enough".

He faces an uphill battle to reclaim his place in the squad, but the manager has always rated him, and a return to the team is not beyond the realms of possibility if he can get back on track in the coming months.

Amid an indifferent season during which he has had issues on and off the field with Manchester United, Rashford can count himself lucky to be included in the group for March's friendlies against Brazil and Belgium. He looks a shadow of the lethal attacker who plundered 30 goals in 2022-23, and his chances of laying claim to a place in the manager's first-choice XI seem slim at best.

The hope will surely be that he can rediscover his goal-scoring touch in an England shirt. It was his performances at the 2022 World Cup that kickstarted his season last time around and saw him storm to his best-ever goal-scoring campaign. That player is in there somewhere and can be a weapon for England, but time is against him.

Another option for the left flank, Grealish is in the midst of a similarly frustrating season on an individual level at Man City. He was a key player in the treble-winning campaign but has been hampered by injuries and Guardiola's ever-changing selection preferences at club level, with summer signing Jeremy Doku providing stiff competition.

An untimely injury setback in February means he will not be part of the March camp, depriving him of one of few opportunities to impress the manager before the tournament proper. He worked so hard to gain Southgate's trust in the first place, but now he is certain to be down the pecking order even when fit. He must finish the season strongly.

Injuries are taking their toll on Eze's chances, too. The attacking midfielder has consistently been among Crystal Palace's best performers when he has been fit and available this season, but he has been restricted to just 18 Premier League appearances.

He missed the entirety of February with a muscle issue, and that has cost him his place in the group for March's friendlies. There is no doubt that Eze can be an effective threat for England in the No.10 role, as someone who creates chances for fun, but given he is already on the fringes of the squad, he will really need to prove his fitness and reliability between now and the Euro 2024 squad announcement.

The combative Chelsea man is the kind of player Southgate seems to love, and the manager's occasional preference for pragmatism - despite the wealth of attacking talent at his disposal - stands Gallagher in good stead as the tournament approaches.

A relentless runner, his involvement would allow Bellingham to play as a No.10 - where he has thrived for Real Madrid this season - and he would play the 'Henderson' role as a go-between for the advanced midfielder and Rice the anchor. There will, however, be questions over whether he has the quality to sew everything together, and he does spurn some big opportunities - but he is cut from the same cloth as the Ajax man, and it wouldn't be a shock for the manager to turn to him.

A player who is suddenly in with a shout after breaking into the squad at just the right time. Gordon will hope to be given the opportunity to make an impression during the March camp, and Southgate would be remiss not to give him a chance as the most productive out-and-out left winger on this list.

Indeed, if he can seize his moment and Southgate opts to deploy Foden centrally, then he could be in line to start on that flank. There are plenty of variables, but Gordon has shown with Newcastle this season that he is one of the most dangerous wide men in the Premier League.

The most underrated player in the England set-up? Granted, Bowen is nominally a right winger and will expect to deputise for Saka, but Southgate may see fit to squeeze him in somewhere given the dearth of in-form options on the left flank if Foden is used as a No.10. Saka has played on the left for England in the past, and Bowen's 25 goal contributions this season are impossible to ignore.

He has spent much of the second half of the campaign playing as a striker for West Ham, too, which could become an intriguing option for Southgate - perhaps in an attacking configuration with Bowen slotted in behind the prolific Kane.

One of those players who will be smashing down the door for a place in the starting line-up, Maddison has picked up where he left off for Tottenham after a lengthy lay-off with an ankle injury. A pure No.10, his involvement would push Bellingham deeper, but it's hard to imagine that being to England's detriment.

Consistently consistent, Maddison is an attacking catalyst, and the prospect of him playing behind the likes of Saka, Kane and Foden is mouth-watering. Interestingly, Southgate often deployed him on the left in qualifying, but there is no doubt that he is at his most effective as a No.10. He will hope to show what he can do there in March.

Mainoo's rise this season has been simply meteoric, and the all-action 18-year-old now finds himself with a huge opportunity to claim a place in Southgate's starting line-up, let alone the squad. He has become a regular starter at Man Utd, putting in a string of performance that belie his tender years in the middle of the park.

The starlet has been immediately promoted to the senior England squad before even making an appearance for the Under-21s, sealing a place with a spellbinding display in the FA Cup triumph over Liverpool. Combative, technical and creative, he is the kind of player Southgate will love, and he seems ready-made for the No.8 role between Rice and Bellingham, or as a double-pivot alongside the Arsenal man - although the manager's cautious use of the Real Madrid star over the years suggests he may just have to be patient.

It is remarkable that Jones is yet to even receive a senior England call-up, and with the tournament fast-approaching, it feels as though time isn't on his side. The Liverpool man surely would have been a shoo-in for Southgate's latest list, but he has been cruelly denied the opportunity to finally make his mark by an untimely ankle injury.

Nevertheless, he could be the ideal, more adventurous option to play as the No.8 between Rice and Bellingham - defensively sound enough to help the former with the dirty work while possessing more than enough technical ability to work in tandem with Bellingham going forward. However, regardless of his fine form the Reds in 2023-24, his complete lack of senior England experience may count against him as the clock ticks down.

Palmer has been nothing short of a revelation for Chelsea this season, and there are growing calls for him to start for England at Euro 2024. A constant source of quality in another torrid campaign at Stamford Bridge, the youngster has 24 goal contributions and - out of relative obscurity - will have forced his way to the forefront of Southgate's thinking.

Though he prefers to play off the right, Palmer's versatility means he is perfectly comfortable in a central role, and he has demonstrated that he is capable of picking apart some of the staunchest defences around with his languid movement and vision. A big-game player who is a dead-eye from the penalty spot, Palmer will have done absolutely all he can to earn a starting place in Germany when all is said and done.

The reality, though, is that England surely cannot afford to shackle Bellingham at the tournament proper; arguably the best midfielder on the planet at the moment, he simply has to be unleashed in his favoured position. That means Southgate will need to call on one of his box-to-box midfield options, and he should look no further than Alexander-Arnold.

The manager has bought into the Liverpool man's reinvention as a central midfielder, regularly playing him in the middle of the park in recent internationals having previously overlooked him as a right-back option, and though his defensive deficiencies are well documented, he is the perfect foil to both Rice and Bellingham - able to contribute out of possession, and in attack with his world-class technique and vision.