England World Cup squad odds: Who will make the plane?

Thomas Tuchel has certainly set his stall out as England manager.

Leaving Jude Bellingham out of his latest squad despite the Real Madrid star declaring himself fit. Resisting cries to name Jack Grealish in his squad for the first time. Overlooking a much-improved Phil Foden. Continuing to snub Trent Alexander-Arnold.

26 players were priced as odds-on by BetVictor to make next summer's 26-man squad before England's wins over Wales and Latvia, with Bellingham, Grealish, Foden and Alexander-Arnold among them.

Now, there is a list of 22 odds-on names, ones considered by the bookies to have a better chance of making the cut, than not.

To make England World Cup finals squad odds (via BetVictor)

• Declan Rice, Jordan Pickford - 1/12
• Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane - 1/10
• Cole Palmer - 1/8
• James Trafford - 1/5
• Bukayo Saka - 2/9
• Morgan Rogers, Dean Henderson - 1/3
• Marc Guehi - 4/11
• Myles Lewis-Skelly, Elliot Anderson - 2/5
• Ezri Konsa - 4/9
• Anthony Gordon, Eberechi Eze, John Stones, Dan Burn - 1/2
• Adam Wharton - 4/7
• Phil Foden, Marcus Rashford - 4/6
• Trent Alexander-Arnold, Noni Madueke - 4/5

Who's on the edge?

Grealish has drifted out to even money, where he is joined by Morgan Gibbs-White, Ollie Watkins and Reece James.

Grealish's superb start to the season for Everton has been well documented. Like Gibbs-White and James his biggest issue is the level of competition for places.

A lack of other credible options at centre-forward beyond Harry Kane make it hard to imagine WATKINS not being selected if fit, but the other three are relying on not only their own form and fitness over the next six months, but that of others.

Despite being part of the group for October's fixtures, several other players are considered as outsiders of varying degrees.

Jordan Henderson, Jarrod Bowen, Jarell Quansah, Nico O'Reilly and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are between 6/4 and 7/2 (depending on the firm) - to make it.

Tuchel could hardly have spoken in more glowing terms about HENDERSON's leadership impact. Now the former Liverpool captain is delivering strong performances for Brentford in the Premier League to more than justify his inclusion.

His 6/4 price is therefore a surprise.

DJED SPENCE joins him there after being trimmed in from 3/1.

During a 2024/25 breakout campaign with Tottenham he showed he is equally adapt on either side of defence, an invaluable skill to bring to a major tournament squad. That was demonstrated by playing at left-back against Wales and right-back against Latvia.

NICK POPE is another at 6/4.

When James Trafford joined Manchester City from Burnley in the summer, turning down the opportunity to move to Newcastle, and immediately took up the number one spot, it looked as though for the first time Jordan Pickford's place as England's first choice keeper could come under threat. Not now.

The 22-year-old was soon replaced by fellow new signing Gianluigi Donnarumma and it's hard to see him ever displacing the Italian.

Injury permitting, Pickford (1/12) and Dean Henderson (1/3) are World Cup certainties, but Pope seems a lot more likely to go than the 1/5 Trafford.

The experienced Pope has seen off the summer arrival of Aaron Ramsdale to underpin a superb start to the season defensively for Newcastle.

He has 10 caps and was part of England's squad at the last two World Cups, so knows how to play understudy. Trafford has not played a senior international.

Then there are plenty of realistic, recent call-ups priced between even money and 2/1.

Tino Livramento and Curtis Jones have featured regularly for England of late but sit in that odds-against bracket alongside Conor Gallagher, Jarrad Branthwaite and Trevoh Chalobah.

Who are the big outsiders?

It's also hard to ignore quite a few names even further down the betting.

For varying reasons, Harry Maguire, Kobbie Mainoo, Lewis Hall, Dominic Solanke, Ivan Toney, Rico Lewis and Luke Shaw aren't involved with England at the moment, but perhaps only Maguire's return to the fold would be considered any kind of serious shock.

When Wales boss Craig Bellamy said England's squad depth was "ridiculous" ahead of their 3-0 defeat, he really wasn't exaggerating.

It makes it very hard to predict who could fill the final five or so spots in the squad, with around 20 seemingly fairly nailed on.

Big name casualties?

Phil Foden was one of the biggest drifters (from 1/3 to 4/6) and understandably so. He remains as short as 3/10 with some firms but currently it feels very possible he is the biggest name to be left out.

While there was certainly a haphazard nature to Tuchel's reign in the early stages, a very clear blueprint has emerged in terms of the profile he wants from wingers, number 10s and full-backs.

While Jude Bellingham can be considered, fairly simplistically, as an upgrade on Morgan Rogers, there doesn't look to be an obvious place for Foden or Cole Palmer (1/8) to slot into this XI.

The same can be said for Trent Alexander-Arnold, which creates a very real scenario that several of England's most valuable footballers do not go to the World Cup.

What all three players do offer is a level of natural ability to impact a game that few others do.

So despite their lack of involvement up to now, finding room in a squad of 26 players surely cannot be that hard.

But this is Thomas Tuchel we're talking about. Nothing's off the table.

Odds correct at 1230 BST (15/10/25)

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