PHILLIPS , HENDO & MAGUIRE...WHY NO FRESH IDEAS FOR EURO LEAP?

GARETH SOUTHGATE can be certain of one thing as he looks ahead to next summer’s European Championships… Kalvin Phillips will be fresh at least.

Fresh, fit and raring to go, even if he will have to reacquaint himself with the process of starting an elite football match.

If Manchester City get the title wrapped up early enough, Phillips might get a Premier League run-out or two, but, if he stays at the Etihad after January, there will be precious little first-team football for one of Southgate’s go-to operators ahead of England’s challenge in Germany.

Pep Guardiola has nothing but complimentary things to say about Phillips (right, with Southgate), but the City manager’s team selections speak louder.

When there is a vacancy in the defensive midfield area,

Guardiola fills it with defenders (the now-injured John Stones for one) or even attackers (Bernardo Silva, rather bizarrely, stepped into the role at the Emirates earlier this season).

In the wake of the injury to Stones, Pep suggested – quite enthusiastically – that Nathan Ake or Manuel Akanji can play there. Anyone but Kalvin, it seems. At times, you wonder if Guardiola might give Ederson a run-out in front of the back three. Yet it does not seem to concern Southgate, who says he is not overly surprised Phillips can’t get a game yet because there are so many world-class players ahead of him.

Players, we assume, such as Rico Lewis, the England Under-21 midfielder yet to be called into the senior squad.

Nor does it seem to concern Southgate that Jordan Henderson is playing in front of one man and his dog every week in a very rich, but very tinpot, league.

Mid-table in the Saudi Pro League, Henderson’s Al-ettifaq are hardly pulling up trees.

At least Harry Maguire has become a regular for

Manchester United once again. In the previous international break, Maguire spoke passionately about trying to re-establish himself in Erik ten Hag’s plans, describing his win percentage under the Dutchman as “ridiculously high”.

Between then and before yesterday’s game against Luton Town, Maguire started six club games in succession and his win percentage during that stint was ridiculously ordinary.

It was 50 percent, with three defeats seeing Maguire’s United defence concede three twice and four once. It is fair to say his form has been mixed. If and when Ten Hag has all his defenders fit, the prospects for Maguire remain less than sunny.

Southgate, though, will keep the faith, and his argument that Phillips, Henderson and Maguire have ‘never let him down’ carries considerable weight.

No, they have not let him down – but Euro 2024 is all about taking the final step, going the magical extra yard.

That means progression, that means development, that surely means looking at ways to make those marginal gains, that might end a six-decade wait for a trophy.

And, while England have qualified for the Euro finals at an impressive canter, there are – if Southgate’s latest squad is anything to go by – still no significant signs of progression.

Nor does it seem to bother Southgate that Henderson plays in a very rich, tinpot league