England fans have been left shocked by a surprise inclusion in the official Euro 2024 sticker book.
American trading card company Topps won the rights to take over from Panini as UEFA’s exclusive sticker partner for the tournament in Germany back in 2022, to build on their portfolio as the official partner of the Champions league and other UEFA club competitions.
Topps brought in legendary manager Jose Mourinho to promote the collectables book, but one of the choices on the England squad pages has left fans stumped.
Leicester City left-back Luke Thomas, 21, has spent the season out on loan, first at Sheffield United in the Premier League, and then with Championship side Middlesbrough.
Despite 15 appearances at England under-21 level, he has never made the step up to Gareth Southgate’s senior squad – but he is featured in the book, listed as a Blades player despite his loan to the club being mutually terminated on January 12.
The official Euro 2024 sticker book – promoted by Jose Mourinho – has a surprise inclusion
Leicester full-back Luke Thomas, who has been on loan at Middlesbrough, has been included
Fans wondered if Topps ‘know something’ significant about Gareth Southgate’s Euros squad
Second Tier Podcast wrote on X (formerly Twitter): ‘Why is Middlesbrough left back Luke Thomas in the new Euro 2024 sticker album for England??’ along with two crying laughter emojis.
Fans responded with their own queries and comments regarding Thomas’s surprise inclusion, with one asking: ‘Do they know something?’ and another claiming ‘Call up pending’.
One said Thomas was a ‘Top player but doubt he’ll be going to the euros’, while another said he was a ‘better option’ than Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell, who started both of England’s friendlies back in March.
Another fan replied with an explanation for the situation, noting: ‘A lot of the England players couldn’t be in the album because of licensing issues’.
Thomas has played 15 times for the England under-21s, but has had no senior call-ups
Manchester City pair Phil Foden and John Stones were snubbed by the Euro 2024 sticker album, as previously reported by Mail Sport.
Wingers Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka are also missing from the England squad – but Rico Lewis is included despite having just one national team cap to his name.
A spokesperson from Topps told BBC’s Newsbeat it was ‘proud’ of its first sticker collection but admitted it was disappointed that a ‘small number of players’ were missing, adding: ‘This is due to the tournament’s former sticker partner having blocked certain parts of the collection, to the detriment of the fans.’
Panini has launched its own ‘tournament edition’ album dedicated to the England team, but without the wider rights to the whole of Euro 2024.
Foden’s excellent club performances have put him in contention to be nominated as player of the season, and his love of Premier League sticker albums has been well documented.
His girlfriend Becca Cooke told The Telegraph in 2021: ‘He’s obsessed with these stickers at the moment.
‘We’d been to the zoo this week and I popped into Morrison’s on the way home and had to ring him because I saw they had a big box of stickers there.
‘We’ll be driving along and he’s like, “Stop, they sell stickers there. Go on Bec, can you nip into that shop and get me every pack they’ve got. I don’t want them to know it’s me”.’
Panini has launched its own ‘tournament edition’ album dedicated to the England team (left)
Manchester City duo John Stones and Phil Foden were omitted from the official sticker book
England have pre-tournament friendlies against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland ahead of the trip to Germany.
At Euro 2024, Southgate’s side will play group stage games against Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia before the start of the knockout stages.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk