Southgate will rest any Champions League finalists for Euros build-up

GARETH Southgate has conceded that any players involved in the Champions League final are likely to miss a large chunk of England’s vital Euro 2024 preparations.

The national team were handed a favourable draw in Hamburg on Saturday night, with England facing Denmark, Serbia and Slovenia in Group C when the tournament kicks off.

Southgate can now formalise the team’s preparations but realises any involvement of his players in European finals will have a significant impact on his plans. The final day of the Premier League season is May 19, meaning the majority of England players will have a break between the end of the domestic campaign and the start of the Euro 2024 training camp, with the first warm-up game pencilled in for June 3.

Harry Kane’s Bundesliga season ends on May 18, Jude Bellingham’s La Liga campaign ends eight days later — as does Fikayo Tomori’s at AC Milan.

The Saudi Pro League, where vice captain Jordan Henderson plays, reaches its conclusion on May 27.

However, a host of players are set to see their seasons extended if their clubs reach European finals.

The Champions League final is on June 1 at Wembley, the Europa League final on May 22 and the Europa Conference League final on May 29.

If holders Manchester City reach another final, England stars such as Kyle Walker, Phil Foden, John Stones and Kalvin Phillips are likely to be involved. Kane and Bellingham could be there with Bayern and Real respectively, while Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice will dream of playing in the showpiece game for Arsenal.

Southgate wants to give all his players a break after their club seasons which means he faces being without a number of key players for at least their opening warm-up match.

‘Yes, we will have little time with the Champions League finalists,’ said Southgate.

‘But we had that in the Euros with Chelsea-Man City last time around, so we’re used to dealing with that. You’d love to have all the players for all the prep camps, but that’s not our reality. We’ve dealt with that in the past, so we know what it needs to look like.

‘It’s important they get some sort of psychological break in between but, of course, the longer they play, the less you can give them is the reality.’

On England’s Euros draw, Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford said: ‘Argentina won the World Cup but if you look at the top 10 nations in the world rankings, the bulk of them are European.

‘So it follows that every game against a European side is going to be tough. It’s a good draw and something we will thrive upon next summer.’