Gareth Southgate urges Uefa to make major Euro 2024 rule change after suffering England injury blow
GARETH SOUTHGATE wants Uefa chiefs to grant him an extra THREE players for his Euro finals squad.
The England boss is desperate for an increase from 23 to 26 to counter a worrying spike in injuries.
Managers from the 24 nations will talk about potentially supersizing squads at a Uefa gathering in Dusseldorf on April 8-9.
Asked if he favoured such a move, Southgate said: “Well, given where we are …
“There is one more Uefa meeting where there’s been talk amongst the coaches about possibly increasing the number.”
Southgate suffered his worst injury crisis as Three Lions boss as he lost captain Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire and Sam Johnstone over the past week.
Midfielders Cole Palmer and Jordan Henderson also missed vital training sessions ahead of Saturday’s 1-0 Wembley defeat to Brazil and Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Belgium, while Luke Shaw and Trent Alexander-Arnold were crocked before Southgate announced his squad for the Euros warm-up friendlies.
Southgate added: “We’ve got to make the best decisions with what we know and some of those currently are going to be medical decisions.
“We’ve been able to get those right in previous tournaments. We’ve been able to give people time, but with 23 that’s definitely more difficult.”
Normally, major tournaments feature 23-man squads but due to Covid, Euro 2020 and World Cup 2022 featured squads of 26 although Uefa decided to reduce the number for this summer’s tournament.
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However, even if all the managers wanted to increase the squads, they would still have to persuade Uefa to deliver a U-turn.
Southgate is set to name a “training” squad of up to 30 players on May 21.
Although players will be given a one-week break after the Premier League season ends on May 19, some stars will be involved in European finals. The Champions League final at Wembley is on June 1.
England face Bosnia and Herzegovina at Newcastle on June 3 and then play Iceland in the final warm-up game at Wembley on June 7.
On June 8, the FA must confirm the official squad with the first Euro clash against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen set for June 16.