But don’t worry. Wait a year - I know, no easy task - and Euro 2021 should be bigger and better than Euro 2020 was ever going to be! Maybe...
The coronavirus outbreak has stopped a lot of things, but not our dreams, or indeed in the dreams of our prospective lions.
In fact, the delayed tournament could have benefits for several English players. Here are 15 who could whose time to shine may be better suited to the summer of 2021.
15 – Joe Gomez (8 caps)
With Liverpool 25 points clear at the top of the table, Joe Gomez has been second only to Virgil van Dijk in terms of the club's (and probably the Premier League's) best centre-backs this season. And yet he may have gone into Euro 2020 as a reserve to Harry Maguire plus one other.
The next year will take Joël Matip and Dejan Lovren further and further away from their peak, and bring Joe Gomez, still only 24 years old by the time of next summer's tournament, closer and closer to his.
14 – Ruben Loftus-Cheek (10 caps)
Side-lined with an Achilles injury for nearly a year now, Loftus-Cheek was only just getting close to a comeback, when COVID-19 forced many governments and leagues to shut down. So it’ll be yet more time out for him.
But Loftus-Cheek, both for Chelsea and England, has regularly shown he offers something different to a traditional number ten or even number eight – he’s tall, fast, athletic and powerful and certainly works well in Gareth Southgate’s preferred system.
Another year of football could help him become a consistent threat.
13 – Fikayo Tomori (1 cap)
From one Chelsea youth product to another, Tomori was looking like Frank Lampard’s most exciting defensive prospect in the early parts of the season, until niggling injuries started to catch up with the Canadian-born youngster.
As with Loftus-Cheek, another year in and around the team could help to show Tomori’s manager he’s worth gifting game-time to, and, from there, who knows what he could do?
12 – Ben White (Uncapped)
With Leeds United on course to become a Premier League team for next season - at least until the coronavirus left everything up in the air - Ben White may well be testing himself against some of the world’s very best attackers from 2020/21.
That’s exactly the kind of experience that can make a good defender great, and it’s been his excellent work at the back in the Championship so far this season that has seen him linked with the likes of Liverpool, Leicester City and Manchester United.
Southgate will be well aware of the man by now.
11 – James Maddison (1 cap)
What is it with all these England players honing their skills in the lower leagues? 20 of England’s 23 at the World Cup in Russia had done so, and a fair few others that have debuted since took the same career route.
It was at Coventry and Norwich that Maddison became a footballer, but at Leicester City where he really matured. Looking at the Premier League table suggests it’s highly likely Leicester will be in the Champions League next season.
Trying to unlock the top defences in Europe would be exactly the challenge that a) Maddison would relish and b) Southgate would value as priceless experience.
10 – Callum Hudson-Odoi (3 caps)
What a player this operator is when he takes on a fullback and does exactly what they didn’t expect him to do.
Hudson-Odoi will be 20 by the time Euro 2021 co
Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho may prove hard to budge, but it’s worth a try. He’s the youngest of them anyway.
9 – Dean Henderson (Uncapped)
Possibly the most loved player in all of the Premier League right now, perhaps that’s not saying much considering quite how ‘hated’, and he said it himself, Jordan Pickford is.
Henderson is a key factor as to why European football was a very realistic goal for Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United.
A year is plenty of time as a potential leveller in ball distribution between him and Pickford – who is, admittedly, highly talented with his feet. Henderson is the better keeper though and may well become England’s new number one.
8 – Phil Foden (Uncapped)
Some would argue he should have 30 caps by now, others think he should remain uncapped well into old age. Foden clearly possesses a healthy helping of talent, but a lack of strength may be a significant downfall.
Cuter, craftier players have been known to miss out on the career their talents merited simply due to their slight frames. If Foden can bulk up, he’s surely a great shout for the finals. Also, David Silva leaves Manchester City in the summer; Foden will be begging Pep Guardiola not to sign a new creative midfielder.
7 – Hamza Choudhury (Uncapped)
Europe went a little quiet for a split second when Hamza Choudhury curled a delightful goal ricocheting in off the crossbar from range in the Premier League last month. Indeed, it was the least Hamza Choudhury-ish thing anyone had ever done.
Choudhury, after all, is a midfield destroyer, not a creator. He’s getting very good at sniffing around in the box and putting his defence at ease with tough tackles and intelligent passes. Southgate needs a defensive midfielder like that, and Choudhury could well emerge as the best man for the job.
6 – Kalvin Phillips (Uncapped)
Don’t worry, Three Lions fans. If Choudhury doesn’t reach the heights demanded of the senior England team, Leeds’ Kalvin Phillips looks destined to.
There are those that think Championship football is of a very impressive standard, and there are those that think Phillips plays at a level much higher than all those around him. Many think both.
Phillips can offer the midfield dynamism that was lacking in defeat to the Czech Republic and in conceding three times to Kosovo in the autumn. An England debut looks imminent.
5 – Jadon Sancho (11 caps)
Surely the provider of 26 goals and 29 assists in just 57 Bundesliga games over the last two years would have been an ideal fit for a Euros THIS year, not next?
True, but there are two types of winger. The first hugs the touchline and crosses from deep. The second cuts inside and puts the ball on a plate for a big, focal-point number nine - Sancho is very much the second.
Laying the ball on a silver platter for Erling Braut Håland for another full year could well tip Sancho over the edge from very, very good into the world-class category. England (and Harry Kane) would reap the rewards.
4 – Mason Greenwood (Uncapped)
Does this man do anything other than run onto a pass, look at the goal, and fire the ball inside it?
Frankly, who cares? So what if he doesn’t? That’s what made Borussia Dortmund pay out for teenager Håland, and it’s what is making a number of high-profile defences take note of another teenager in Greenwood.
A highly prolific goalscorer at youth level, Greenwood has notched ten goals in just the Premier League and Europa League alone this season. Another campaign like that next time around could make Southgate’s squad decision for him.
3 – Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Uncapped)
As the season made its way to its kind of end – for the moment at least – Trent Alexander-Arnold and Wan-Bissaka started to pull away as England’s very best right-back options.
The next year is likely to see Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier ditched as players of the past, with Wan-Bissaka to really push in an attempt to nail down the England team’s most competitive berth. His strong tackling and recently improved crossing may well sway Southgate into picking the Man United defender.
2 – Marcus Rashford (38 caps)
England’s golden boy at the time of Euro 2016, Rashford will be one of the most experienced players in the team when Euro 2021 comes around, by which time he’ll have had another season to play in what is currently a very exciting Man United team.
Bruno Fernandes is exactly the kind of orchestrator that seems odds on to build a great connection with Rashford. The beginning of this term showed how Rashford and Anthony Martial are also similarly aligned.
That freakish burst of pace could be an essential asset at the business end of the tournament… if England do indeed make it that far.
1 – Harry Kane (45 caps)
Captain. Leader. Role model. World Cup Golden Boot winner. With Euro 2020 now becoming Euro 2021, Harry Kane now has the chance to go into the tournament ruthless not rusty, deadly not drained.
The final cog in what now seems like it could be a very powerful machine indeed.
England fans, what were you worried about?
Source : 90min