Jack Grealish is fighting for his place in the England squad for Euro 2024while Harry Maguire appears to be a serious injury doubt in the tournament opener in Germany.
Grealish cut short his holiday to return to Gareth Southgate’s team straight after a disappointing season at Manchester City, where he was an unused substitute in the FA Cup Final and started one of the last seven Premier League games of the season.
Although Southgate has a headache at the back, with Maguire’s recovery from a calf injury taking longer than expected and Luke Shaw not yet in full training, he has plenty of options in attack, with Eberechi Eze pushing to start against Bosnia and Herzegovina in St James’ Park.
“We think we know who the best have been throughout the season, what we don’t fully know is how many we need to take or how many we can afford to take because of the cover we might need in other positions as well,” said Southgate.
“It’s obvious that this season he [Grealish] He didn’t play as much as he did last season. I’m sure he would like it to be different, but we know the qualities he can bring and the qualities he has and he is a player we like to work with and a character we like to have within the group.
“We know where we’re likely to be. It’s hard to be so specific because we sit there and say, ‘Okay, it’s this or that.’ Then someone in the room says, ‘if we lose that player’.”
Kieran Trippier will captain England against Bosnia, with Harry Kane rested after a back problem but set to play against Iceland on Friday. Anthony Gordon is out with an ankle problem, Bukayo Saka will be rested after his recent groin injury, while Maguire and Shaw are confirmed absentees.
John Stones will miss out because he arrived late after the FA Cup final, so Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi will start at centre-back, giving him the chance to play in Southgate’s Germany squad. When asked whether Maguire will make his Euro 2024 debut against Serbia on June 16 in Gelsenkirchen, Southgate said: “We don’t know that at the moment.”
Southgate admits he cannot rely on players to tell him how their injuries are recovering when he makes his decision on his final 26-man squad on Saturday, with seven missing boarding the plane to Germany.
“They are lying, really!” he said. “If you are in a relegation battle, the treatment room is absolutely packed. If you are in a cup final, it will be empty. I learned this, by being here [at Middlesbrough]and also playing cup finals. They have great intentions and are super positive, but they also want to be on the plane, so they need to have a deeper vision than that. I will consult the players as little as possible.”
Southgate confirmed that Kane is now in full training and will start at the end of the week. “He needed it the first few days but has trained fully since then,” he added.
