Relegated England stars must move or face axe from manager Gareth Southgate as Jack Butland, Jake Livermore and Alfie Mawson all seek new Premier League clubs

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England's relegated stars are under pressure to find new clubs to ensure they stay in Gareth Southgate's plans.

Stoke keeper Jack Butland, West Bromwich midfielder Jake Livermore and Swansea defender Alfie Mawson all suffered relegation last season.

Butland was still named in Southgate's final 23-man squad for the World Cup, while Livermore was picked on the standby list. Mawson, who was called up into the previous squad, missed out altogether. 

England's relegated stars will need to find new clubs to stay in Gareth Southgate's plans

West Bromwich Albion midfielder Jake Livermore was among those to suffer the drop

Swansea's Alfie Mawson, called up into the previous squad, missed out on the World Cup

All three will almost certainly be required to move on this summer to ensure they stay at the forefront of Southgate's thinking during the post-World Cup era.

While it is not a hard and fast rule, Southgate is minded to only consider players who are playing top-flight football.

Southgate wants his players to have as much big-game experience as possible, underlined by his decision to select Trent Alexander-Arnold in his squad.

The 19-year-old defender doesn't have vast top-level experience, but his performances in Liverpool's run to the Champions League final was a determining factor in his selection.

Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson broke into the squad in February 2017 and was re-selected for the summer internationals against Scotland and France, but Gibson was immediately dropped from the squad for the September games against Slovakia and Malta.

Southgate wants his players to have big-game experience, like Trent Alexander-Arnold

Likewise, Southgate has resisted calls to select Fulham's Ryan Sessegnon despite his brilliant form in the Championship.

Watford and Wolves are understood to be interested in Butland. West Ham have a long-standing interest in Mawson.

Butland, though, is putting all talk of a move away from Stoke to one side until after the World Cup.

'I'm contracted (to Stoke). It's not like I'm out of contract and things are up in the air,' Butland said. 'I'm really looking forward to this summer and the World Cup is the main part of that.

'I don't have anything in the pipeline and there's no focus on that at the minute. The most important thing for me is being part of a successful England squad. That's my only goal right now.'