England boasts of the best players in Germany, Spain and England ...but can Gareth Southgate make it work?
LONDON - Phil Foden’s election as FWA Footballer of the Year is a deserved triumph for the Manchester City schemer. But it serves to exemplify the dilemma facing Gareth Southgate this summer how to create a winning recipe from the
nest ingredients an England manager has had for years.
The Three Lions boss can now eld the best individual player in England, Germany and Spain in the shape of Foden, skipper Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham.
He also has one of the nest defensive mid elders in the world in Declan Rice, plus Bukayo Saka, a right-wing option who would walk into most of the Euro 2024 starting teams.
Yet Southgate’s key decisions over precisely how he will piece the England jigsaw together remain unclear - with the tournament just six weeks away.
As recently as the start of February, Southgate seemed to have made a decision. It was going to be Bellingham at the centre of a line of three behind Kane, probably with Foden on the left and Saka on the right.
Why? Well, Southgate’s own words made it clear.
Referring to Bellingham’s move into an advanced role for Real, rather than as the central mid elder he had been at Dortmund and, previously, for England, he said: “Yes, it’s de nitely di erent to where we started him.
“But when he's having the success in the role he has it would be silly not to mirror that in terms of where he will play.”
That left the question mark over who would start alongside Rice, especially with Kalvin Phillips having fallen o a cli and Jordan Henderson’s Saudi mistake.
Yet three months on, Bellingham's role at Real has evolved again, mainly re
Jude Bellingham
verting to a deeper starting position, allowing him to arrive on the scene at the right moment slightly later.
Indeed, arguably Bellingham’s least e ective recent performance came against Kane’s Bayern Munich on Tuesday, when he started as the most advanced mid elder.
So if Southgate accepts that Ancelotti is right, it means Bellingham - rather than Manchester United’s teenage prodigy Kobbie Mainoo or any of the alternatives - as Rice’s partner.
And that allows Foden to have the freedom of the eld at 10, rather than being shunted out on the left.
Since the turn of the year, Foden has scored a staggering 15 goals for City in just 20 appearances, with 11 of them in a mere 12 Premier League games.
Add in the goals and chances he constructs and it is hard to argue against Foden as the creative hub of Southgate’s side, lling the space left when Kane pushes on to the opposing centrehalves and able to run in behind, too, if the skipper drops into space.
With Saka a certainty on the right, England will have the ability to stretch teams and hurt them.
But it does leave a left-sided issue for the manager to solve.
Once upon a time that would have been Raheem Sterling, although he is out of favour now, perhaps for good.
Marcus Rashford, despite his United tribulations, will be in the squad, as will Jack Grealish, although James Maddison’s post-injury dip for Spurs could see him miss out, even from the 26-man party that Uefa are now likely to con rm especially given Cole Palmer’s brilliance for Chelsea.
Yet the option that could emerge is a player who only made his debut against
Brazil in March and has played just 86 England minutes.
Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon loves it on the left and has pace in abundance. He is full of self-belief and a goal threat too, with 11 strikes to his name this term.
It would leave Southgate with plenty of bench alternatives too.
So there you have it. Kane at centre forward, Saka, Foden and Gordon behind him, Rice paired with Bellingham.
Good enough to win the Euros? I think so. Mind you, have you seen that England defence?
— The Sun