Gareth Southgate has warned England’s emerging talent there are no guarantees of a place in his team and they must earn the right to be considered for a European Championship role over the old guard.
The England manager has again promoted young players for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo with Jadon Sancho, Mason Mount and James Maddison among those looking to establish themselves on the senior stage. Southgate, however, is expected to remain faithful to players who have given England a commanding start in qualification when he announces the team to play Bulgaria at Wembley on Saturday. And he insists a call-up to his squad does not automatically bring a place in his starting lineup for young talent given the quality at his disposal.
“We’ve had a lot of credit for picking young players and I think that has been the right thing to do,” said the England manager, who was without Jesse Lingard in training on Friday due to illness. “But the most important thing we’ve done all the way through is win. What we haven’t done is just pick young players for the sake of picking young players to buy ourselves time. Inevitably, when we’ve done it, it’s given people a different focus but we’re very much of the view that those guys have got to earn the right.
“It shouldn’t just be the case of players thinking that because they are young, they are going to get an opportunity naturally.
“That applies to the whole pathway really. We have probably promoted more guys quickly in the last two years than we should need to in the next two [years] because we’ve now got quite a pool of players that we’re working with.
“So the young ones are going to have to play really well to be elevated from this year’s group of under-21s. We’ve got some of last year’s team who I think will still come in and threaten this squad over the next six months or so. So, any that are initially in as under-21s are going to have to play exceptionally well to get that opportunity. But that’s like the top clubs, the challenge to get into the first team is harder and harder and that’s only healthy for us as a team.”
Southgate admits internal competition is the best motivation for an England team who have won their opening two matches in qualifying and scored 10 goals in the process. Bulgaria, by contrast, sit bottom of Group A having failed to win in four qualifiers and in their last seven internationals in total.
“Competition for places is a pretty good motivator and is probably the best,” he added. “Some of the younger guys now are after the older ones, the older ones are still proud and courageous and want to stay in as well, and that’s a really healthy situation for us to be in.”
Marcus Rashford is expected to retain his place in attack alongside Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling but accepts Sancho’s outstanding form for Borussia Dortmund could jeopardise the established order. It is a threat the Manchester United forward welcomes.
Rashford said: “It’s just exciting. For England, for the players, for the fans. Who doesn’t want that problem? Do you know what I mean? That’s going to push me and other players to improve and do better so you can only see it as a positive.
“What everyone wants to do is win. We want to win as many games as possible. We want to win the World Cup, we want to win the Euros, and if we want to do that we need the best players. You would never want to hold any player back, regardless of age or the position he played.
“So, for me, it’s exciting to have a squad full of players that can come on the scene at any moment and do something special.”
The 21-year-old admitted he continues to use Kane as an incentive to improve his finishing during England training. Rashford explained: “We use each other’s strengths to make each other better and if you watch training you’d see how it all works. I could use Harry Kane as an example. He’s one of the best finishers that I’ve played with and whenever we do finishing, in my head, it’s about being as close to him as possible.
“So if he scores six, you want to score six. If he scores seven, you want to score eight. Little things like that are the bits people never see. Even though we’re fighting for the same position, or to be in the same team, we really do drive each other on. It’s very important that you have that sort of atmosphere within a team.”