High praise for Gordon by England boss
NEWCASTLE United star Anthony Gordon has been handed a major boost after England boss Gareth Southgate sung his praises ahead of his squad announcement ahead of the European Championships in Germany.
Gordon has been in red hot form this season with 11 goals and 10 assists and won his first two caps in the spring friendly games at Wembley against Brazil and Belgium.
Southgate, speaking on a visit to St James’ Park to NUFC TV, said: “He’s been outstanding all year. We were able to see him in the Champions League games which of course is very similar to our world, it’s knock-out games against top-level opponents.
“Then the fact that he’s weighing in with goals is important but also the work he does off the ball.
“He works tirelessly for the team and I think we saw that with our games in
March as well.
“We were very pleased with what he did.”
Southgate has also confirmed that Kieran Trippier is likely to be one of the names on his 26-man squad as he head to Germany looking to better England’s Euro experience in 2020/21 when they lost narrowly to Italy on penalities at Wembley Stadium.
Speaking on Trippier, Southgate added: “He is an important part of our squad.
“He is a very experienced player at international level. You know as well as we do the leadership qualities that he has, the impact that he has on the team and on the squad.
“He fulfils a very similar role for us and, of course, that adaptability that he can play on the right or the left is important to us as well.”
Trippier is currently in Dubai getting his fitness levels up for the final handful of Newcastle matches ahead of the Euros.