Gareth Southgate gives verdict on Luke Shaw’s fading chances of making England’s Euro 2024 squad

The Manchester United left-back faces race against time to feature again this season

Gareth Southgate has admitted Luke Shaw is likely to miss some matches at Euro 2024, even if he wins his race against time to be fit for the tournament in Germany.

The England left-back is trying to recover from a muscle injury and to return before the end of Manchester United’s season. But Three Lions manager Southgate believes he will need to use someone else at left-back for at least part of the tournament.

He said: “He’s going to be right on the edge of the season. We know now to play seven matches in a Euros is highly unlikely.”

It means Southgate’s search for a deputy to Shaw takes on an added importance. He has used Kieran Trippier at left-back before while Fikayo Tomori and Rico Lewis played there in November, though neither is in his current squad.

Ben Chilwell operated on the left of the back four in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Brazil and Joe Gomez could be another option, but Southgate accepted that Shaw is England’s first choice.

He added: “I thought Ben defended really well and it was an important game for him. I don’t want to kill Ben. But Luke’s one of the best left-backs in world football, frankly.”

Southgate also feels that Jude Bellingham will have to get used to being targeted by opponents after Brazil made a series of fouls on him.

The England manager thought Lucas Paqueta would have got a second yellow card were it a tournament match but believes Bellingham will experience similar treatment again.

He added: “He is a top player and they’re an aggressive side. In a competitive game there would have been more cards than there were tonight so that would have curbed that. But that’s a good experience for him to have to go through.

“I thought he handled it well. He’s ended up getting a yellow card that could have been the other way several times. I do think that in the friendlies the referees do referee slightly differently.”