Gareth Southgate warns his England players that nobody's position is safe ahead of 2018 World Cup

The 2018 World Cup is fast approaching, but Gareth Southgate yesterday warned his England players that nobody’s position in his 23-man squad is safe, and that he is ready and willing to continue promoting youngsters into his first-team.

With just seven months to go until the start of the tournament in Russia, many international managers are now starting to settle on their strongest starting elevens as they move into the final stage of their preparations.

But Southgate, whose short England reign has been characterised by an admirable willingness to hand young players their full international debuts, has told his senior stars not to get too comfortable, as well as claiming he is ready to face the consequences if his idealistic approach to the biggest job in football management backfires.

“I like some tension in the squad,” Southgate said, ahead of this evening’s glamour friendly against Brazil at Wembley Stadium. “If you are going to be a good team there has always got to be that tension there, because it is a high motivator.

“Somebody said to me recently that all of these new players have given me a selection headache. But it hasn’t, these are opportunities, which are brilliant if you want real competition for places. The best way to get the maximum out of a player is if there is competition for the place and absolutely no opportunity to take the foot off the gas in training or any of the matches.”

It just so happens that the players providing that much longed for competition for places are all young players, with England Under-20 World Cup winners Dominic Solanke and Lewis Cook this weekend called up to the senior side, along with Manchester City’s 21-year-old goalkeeper Angus Gunn, currently on loan with Norwich in the Championship.

Southgate may have been minded to select more established Premier League players such as West Ham’s Mark Noble or Newcastle’s Jonjo Shelvey, but is instead determined to blood as many youngsters as possible before next summer, something he describes as “the right thing” for England.

“We could take the short-term view regarding who might be more experienced going into a tournament and have more big-match experience, or we think a little bit outside the box with the problem we have got in terms of the number of players we have got to select from and the opportunities for players,” he said.

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“Ultimately I think we are making the the right decision for England. My job is not just to do things that get me a bit of praise, it is what is the right decision for England and involving players that we have involved this week is the right thing for England.”

For a man frequently — and unfairly — seen as little more than a safe pair of hands, at a time when interest in the national side is arguably at an all-time low, it is a remarkably bold stance for Southgate to take.

And there are evident risks to his blue-sky thinking. The nation may well come to thank Southgate if the likes of Harry Winks, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Solanke go on to enjoy long and fruitful international careers — but if they are selected and fail to deliver in Russia next summer, Southgate will likely be out of a job. Great vision means nothing without great strategy.

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It’s worth remembering however that Southgate’s first day at the FA didn’t see him hang his coat in the England manager’s office. Instead he arrived to shadow Trevor Brooking, the Director of Football Development, and he says nurturing young talent remains high on his list of priorities.

“If we have moments of pressure, I can’t control how other people respond," he said. "If you’re a manager and you worry about that it inhabits your decisions. You can become risk averse and there’s a danger if you are risk averse you can forget about trying to win, and try not to lose.

"Not everybody might work that way, but the reason I came into the FA was because I care about young English players and England. I believe in the cause. I came back to the under 21’s because I wanted young English players to play in a way I think they can. There’s something bigger I’m working for than just getting results in the short-term and my own personally ambitions.

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“It’s back to what I said about John Stones the other day ‘If you want to kick the ball into touch that’s fine, but if you do that you may never be as good as you want to be.’ I told Ruben, ‘Go out there and do what you can do, as if you go for it the attributes you’ve got may take you to the very top.’ We have to inject belief into these players.”

Both of those players are likely to feature tonight against Brazil, who arrive at Wembley on the back of a remarkable run of form. Like England, they have endured a miserable run of recent form at international tournaments, but quite unlike England, their new manager Tite has overseen a stunning turnaround of fortunes which has transformed them into bona fide World Cup contenders.

With England set to retain the three-man defence that Southgate has been utilising in recent weeks, Brazil are likely to name something approaching their strongest line-up, with a formidable front-line consisting of Neymar, Gabriel Jesus and Philippe Coutinho. Willian, who captained the side in their recent 3-1 win over Japan in France, will drop to the bench.

England (3-4-2-1): Hart; Keane, Stones, Cahill; Walker, Loftus-Cheek, Dier, Bertrand; Lingard, Rashford; Vardy.

Brazil (4-3-3): Alisson; Daniel Alves, Marquinhos, Miranda, Marcelo; Casemiro, Paulinho, Renato Augusto; Coutinho, Neymar, Gabriel Jesus.