Southgate: Places are still up for grabs

GARETH SOUTHGATE is relishing the headache brought by increased competition as England’s players look to stake their claim ahead of Euro 2020.

Next summer is shaping up to be one to remember, with the semi-finals and final among seven European Championship matches to be hosted at Wembley.

The tournament presents a great opportunity for England to follow in the footsteps of the heroes of 1966 World Cup by winning silverware on home soil and the side moved a step closer to sealing qualification with Saturday’s 4-0 win against Bulgaria.

Southgate somewhat surprisingly decided against experimenting with his starting line-up, but there looks set to be a fair bit of tinkering as players get the chance to shine. “[It’s] very difficult to say because I think so many of our players are still on a handful of caps, so many of them are improving rapidly,” Southgate (inset) said when asked how close he was to deciding on his team for the tournament.

“The great thing is we’ve got genuine competition for places. We’ve got, clearly, probably four or five guys that you would expect to see on the team sheet.

“But outside of that [it’s] very difficult to call in a lot of positions - and the way that people progress over this season and the way that the new ones adapt to international football will determine so much.

“So ahead of the World Cup, this time, this sort of September, October period, I think [Kieran] Trippier only had one cap, I think [Jordan] Pickford had one perhaps. [Harry] Maguire we hadn’t played.

“So that was three that got to the World Cup semi-final who hadn’t played by this point ahead of the tournament and they all had outstanding tournaments for us.

“So I think we’ve always got to have that open mind.”

Southgate has proven to be openminded and forward-thinking in his decision-making as England manager, with experienced players moved on in his quest to evolve and improve.

Saturday saw substitute Mason Mount become the latest talent to be fast-tracked into the senior side as the Chelsea man made his debut.

“I think the most important thing to say is that we are not doing it for wallpaper - they’re in because they deserve to be in,” Southgate said.

“Mason’s performances already this season for his club and in training with us this week, then what he showed when he went into the game show that he’s a threat to the starting team.”