Gareth Southgate has revealed that Jude Bellingham has been named alongside Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Kyle Walker in England’s new-look leadership group for Euro 2024.
A key aspect of Southgate’s reign over the past eight years has been the trust that he has placed in a core of senior players to aid the captain, Kane, in maintaining standards within the squad. A lack of experience is a potential issue for England, who face Serbia in their opening match in Group C on Sunday night, given they have lost a lot of senior players since the 2022 World Cup. Raheem Sterling, who was highly influential at previous tournaments, and Jordan Henderson, the former vice-captain, have lost their places in the squad and Harry Maguire has missed out through injury.
Southgate has had to alter the dynamic around Kane by creating a new four-man leadership committee. Walker, the new vice-captain, and Rice are highly respected within the camp, while it is a measure of Bellingham’s rapid rise that the 20-year-old has been asked to take on such an important role after his outstanding debut season at Real Madrid.
“We have a very open relationship with all of the players,” Southgate said. “We’ve actually put a small leadership group together for this tournament now with Harry, Kyle Walker, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham. There is a different dynamic to this group, there are a lot of younger players. It’s always important to know what the players are thinking. They have good views, good experiences.
“I want the opinions of the four boys but also they are involved with different age groups in the squad so they will be able to pick up what is going on with the different age groups of the squad. We’ve got 26, it’s not easy to keep track of how everybody is every day. You want to open up that dialogue. Sometimes with young players, they’re normally going to be a little bit more reluctant to approach the manager and talk about what they are thinking so you want a sense of what’s going on on the ground.”
Bellingham, who is fresh from winning the Champions League, is notably mature for his age. Southgate spoke about handing responsibility to the midfielder and he did not forget about Rice’s standing. The Arsenal midfielder, 25, has been earmarked as a future England captain.
“Those two boys, they’re leaders,” Southgate said. “The squad has taken on a younger dynamic and it’s important that they embrace more responsibility in those areas. It shouldn’t just be for the older players to lead. A lot of our younger players have a lot of caps and a lot of big match experience. I could have put more into the group but I think four is enough and we’ll meet regularly and feed back on everything.”
