Gareth Southgate says he believes Luke Shaw has a “good chance” of making England’s Euro 2024 finals squad despite the defender not having played competitive football since February.
Shaw’s last appearance for club or country was on February 18 when he limped off with a muscle problem early in the second half of Manchester United’s 2-1 win at Luton Town.
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Southgate admitted in the announcement of the provisional squad last month that the 28-year-old is “fighting” in the bid for a flight to Germany, with the English boss having until Friday night to limit the initial 33-man selection to a maximum of 26.
But Shaw reported early for England duty after the end of the domestic season as he struggled to prove himself and Southgate offered an encouraging update when he spoke to reporters on Sunday.
“He’s progressed a lot, I have to say,” Southgate told TalkSport. “I thought last week that until we had players in front of us working with us, there was a lot of information that was missing.
“We are happy with his progress. There is still work to be done before he can get on the field in game conditions.
“But he’s very happy with the work he’s done with the physical performance team and the medics, so, yes, he has a good chance.”
Shaw has collected 31 international caps and scored the opening goal in England’s Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy. Left-back is a problem position for England with Kieran Trippier, normally used at right-back, most likely to start at Euro 2024 if Shaw is unavailable.
Following whether it is worth gambling on the inclusion of Shaw even if he is not fully fit, Southgate said: “This is something we have to work out because, of course, if he is not ready for the first couple of games there is a chance to work. break down further down the line.
“You’ve got to make sure you have enough cover in that situation as well, so there’s a bit of a numbers game to play over the next few days.
“Okay, how many do we need at each position? We need to cover ourselves.
“Obviously, he is a specialist left-back who is also a player of an exceptional level, so you prefer to take a chance on a player who is already a regular starter to add to the starting 11.
“But there are losers, there is an impact on all these decisions and that’s why we have to look at the whole picture and not just each individual.”
Southgate confirmed that Shaw, Harry Maguire, Anthony Gordon, Bukayo Saka and John Stones will all miss Monday’s first warm-up game against Bosnia and Herzegovina at Newcastle’s St James’ Park as England’s preparations are hampered by various fitness issues.
Jude Bellingham will also be absent against Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as for Friday’s friendly against Iceland at Wembley after the midfielder was given a week’s rest following Real Madrid’s Champions League final win over Borussia Dortmund.
“It’s about psychological freshness,” Southgate said. “We can make them report tomorrow, it can be heavy, you have to join the group, and the integration is fast.”
“But let’s think about the individual. That’s what we always do. Jude has played until the end, beyond everyone who played.
“The psychology of freshness will be good for him. He is super professional, he will move physically through. For us we do not need to see him before the next Friday.”
The decision means Bellingham will not feature for England until their Group C opener against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on June 16 but Southgate added: “That’s not the most important thing. The most important thing for Jude is rest, recovery.
“We will benefit from that. This is the constraint of international football: we don’t have players like you do at the club to be cohesive, so you have to find out what is most important.
“At this point in time in my opinion, for Jude, and therefore for the team, the most important thing is the time to recover and kill psychologically.”
