Gareth Southgate details plans for expanded England squad before Euro 2024 deadline

Gareth Southgate is set to call up an expanded squad for England’s Euro 2024 preparations and then have to deliver the bad news to his players as he trims it to the 23 he takes to the tournament.

A combination of injuries and end-of-season club games mean that when Southgate names a training squad on 21 May, it is likely to feature several players who he will not take to Germany but who he requires as cover for all eventualities.

Southgate intends to try and manage expectations among fringe players who probably will not make the final cut as he tries to avoid a repeat of the infamous incident at La Manga in 1998 when Paul Gascoigne trashed a hotel room after manager Glenn Hoddle told him that he was being omitted from the final World Cup squad.

Southgate’s first-choice left-back Luke Shaw is in a race against time to be fit for Euro 2024 while the England manager has had the longest injury list of his time in charge for the friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.

He said: “That's really going to depend on where some of the injuries are at and also how many players are in the European finals. My preference is always that players have some clarity on exactly what the role is when they come in.

“The hard part is done. But it's not always possible. So I'm conscious of that. I'll probably try to at least manage expectations in that period. But it's going to be really hard to be really definitive on a 23.”

Southgate will name his training squad two days after the end of the Premier League season but before the Europa League final, which could feature Liverpool or West Ham, the FA Cup final, with at least one of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, and the Europa Conference League final, which may involve Aston Villa.

There is also the possibility that either Arsenal or Manchester City could be involved in the Champions League final on 1 June – and if not, either Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich or Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid will be - two days before England face Bosnia and Herzegovina at St James’ Park. It could mean some players who will not go to Euro 2024 will play in England’s penultimate warm-up game. Southgate has to finalise his squad by 8 June.

Southgate was able to take 26 players to both Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup but, while there is a meeting of coaches in the week after next and the issue could be raised again, he feels it will be 23 this time.

He added: “There is one more Uefa meeting where there's been a little bit of talk amongst some of the coaches about possibly increasing that.

“Well, given where we are now! We've got to make the best decisions with what we know and some of those currently are going to be medical decisions.

“And we've been able to get those right in the previous tournaments. We've been able to give people time, but with 23 that's definitely more difficult.”