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• Gareth Southgate knows Euro 2024 must go ‘very, very well’ to keep England job

  Gareth Southgate knows next year’s Euros will have to go extremely well for it to be a “possibility in anybody’s eyes” for him to stay on as England manager.

  The 52-year-old was parachuted into the hotseat following Sam Allardyce’s ignominious exit in 2016 and has gone on to oversee the national team’s best spell since winning the World Cup.

  England reached the 2018 semi-finals before losing the delayed Euro 2020 final in an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley.

  There were more signs of progress as the team were edged out by France at last year’s World Cup, but a challenging year meant Southgate had to weigh up whether to see out his contract until 2024.

  The England boss decided to stay on after a week of contemplation following Qatar, but next summer’s European Championship could prove his last finals in charge.

  “My contract is until the December,” Southgate said. “That was always put in place because it would allow everybody reflection time, really.”

  Asked if the Euros would be his last tournament, Southgate said: “Who knows?

  “I think we’ll have to go very, very well for that to be a possibility in anybody’s eyes and that’s fair enough. I’m more than comfortable with that.

  “My aim is to try and win the tournament and everything I do is geared around that and every conversation I have with the players now is geared around that.

  “So, what will happen in the future at the moment it isn’t at the forefront of my mind, but trying to win this European Championship is.”

  England are third favourites with the bookmakers to triumph in Germany next year, and that is all the manager is focused on right now.

  ‘Succession’ is a buzzword thanks to the popular US TV series, but Southgate has not seen the show and was unwilling to talk about potential candidates for a job he cares deeply about.

  “Whatever (input) John (McDermott, Football Association technical director) and everybody else at the FA would like, really,” he said.

  “I’m not precious about it. If I could help in any way, at whatever point. I try to do that now with involvement in the pro licence, with reaching out to English coaches.

  “We’ve had people in to have the odd day here and there with us at training.

  “That’s not my decision but I’d always help English football as much as I can.

  “At whatever point I leave here, hopefully we’ve won something, but if I’m the second most successful I’ll be more than happy to become third very quickly.

  “I joined here to help English football and that will never change for me.”

  England’s immediate focus is taking a giant stride towards Germany by beating Malta and North Macedonia in June, but for a number of players their future is up in the air.

  Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham are subject of widespread speculation, while a lack of game-time is an issue for Southgate’s favourites Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips.

  “There’s potentially a lot of movement with that squad we’ve picked across the summer, but I think it will be later in the summer,” the England boss said.

  “It doesn’t worry me how it plays out. I think as a player you always back yourself. You’ve got to.

  “You’ve got to have the mentality that ‘wherever I go I’m going to force my way into the team’ until such point as which it becomes apparent where ‘maybe I’ve got to go’.

  “And maybe we’ve got a couple in the squad who’ve got that decision to go through in their own minds this summer.”

  That self-confidence has paid dividends for Jack Grealish, who struggled to make the desired impact in his first season at Manchester City.

  But the 27-year-old has come on leaps and bounds this term under Pep Guardiola, who Southgate considers the best coach in the world.

  “I’m a huge admirer,” the England boss said. “He knows that, I’ve told him.

  “Of course it’s been brilliant for our players to work with him and they have learned individually, tactically and, probably as much as anything, that mentality.

  “You mention Jack, he’s played properly, I would say, in this period. You know, against Real Madrid with and without the ball.

  “That wasn’t the case two-and-a-half years ago, if I’m honest, so there’s been a lot of progress.”

• Erik ten Hag confident Marcus Rashford can score 40 goals in a season

  Erik ten Hag believes ever-improving Manchester United star Marcus Rashford can become a 40-goal-a-season forward.

  The 25-year-old pressed reset last summer after the most chastening year of his career, kicked off by his heart-breaking penalty shoot-out miss in England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.

  Post-tournament shoulder surgery kept Rashford sidelined and an initial flurry of goals on his return quickly dried up amid widespread criticism.

  But a priceless pre-season under new boss Ten Hag led to a resurgence, with Rashford scoring his 30th goal of the season in all competitions in Thursday’s 4-1 win over Chelsea.

  Rashford’s best haul saw him become the first United player to reach 30 goals since Robin van Persie a decade ago, but Ten Hag believes the best is yet to come.

  “There’s a lot of room for improvement in his game,” the United boss said ahead of Sunday’s Premier League finale against Fulham. “I’m convinced he could score even more.

  “I think when you take, for instance, the last 10 games, he didn’t score so many goals. I think only two or three.

  “So, yeah, he can improve but I am happy from where he was last season to what he did now, that he brings himself back.

  “We supported him where we could, with the way of play but also in his mental mindset, so we are happy with that.

  “But, yeah, we have to push for more and I am sure he’s capable to score 40 goals in a season, to make also for him the next step.”

  Asked if Rashford’s form takes the pressure off getting a striker in the summer, Ten Hag said: “We need across the squad more scoring abilities.

  “You can’t be dependent on one. But it can also come from this squad, but we need more scoring abilities.”

  Ten Hag has stressed the need for additions and internal improvements after a promising first season in the dugout.

  United won February’s Carabao Cup and face Manchester City in the FA Cup final after wrapping up a Champions League return with a game to spare.

  “We have to look to ourselves,” Ten Hag said about the next step. “We want to win the cup but that is for next Saturday and we have to do everything that’s in our power.

  “I think in many aspects we can improve with this group of players, with this team. I know where we have to improve. I think there is a lot of room for improvement, yes.”

  Ten Hag feels “fantastic in this club” and says Manchester feels like a home away from home, where the reaction to people he meets on the street is “absolutely positive”.

  That feedback would be even greater from the red half of the city if United can stop rivals City’s treble charge at Wembley in the FA Cup final.

  Asked if the FA Cup final was a free hit given what they have achieved already and City’s standing or a chance to send a statement, Ten Hag retorted: “Both not.

  “But when I was here one year ago, I said we wanted to win trophies. We have won one, so we want to go for the highest.

  “But that is a long, long way, it’s going to be a project. That’s not over one year. We’re talking over one to three years.

  “But when there’s an opportunity to win a trophy, for every player it’s massive.

  “I have to count but there are not so many players in our team, in our squad who have won the FA Cup. The FA Cup is huge for everyone in the world.

  “You can have won the Champions League, you can have won so many titles, but when you have the opportunity to win the FA Cup, it goes all over the world, global-wide, a huge reputation.

  “I know from the Netherlands how big the FA Cup is, so we have the opportunity to win that.

  “We are also realistic (that) it’s not going to be easy but I can assure you one thing: we will give everything that’s in our power to get the cup.”

• I’ll stay at Newcastle as long as I’m wanted – Eddie Howe

  Eddie Howe does not want to be anywhere but Newcastle as he plots a route to lasting success after delivering Champions League football at the end of his first full season at the helm.

  The 45-year-old will spend the summer working with the club’s owners and sporting director Dan Ashworth to bolster a squad already enhanced by spending in excess of £250million for the challenges which lie ahead.

  In doing so he will have to make a series of tough decisions, but not about his own situation.

  Asked if his long-term future lies at St James’ Park, Howe said: “Very much so, there is no other thought in my mind.

  “For as long as I’m wanted, Newcastle is where I want to be. I’m hugely excited about next season and hopefully beyond.”

  Howe has been linked repeatedly with the England job in recent years and his early success on Tyneside after his sterling work at Bournemouth has seen his reputation blossom.

  However, he is not a man to rest on his laurels and knows what lies ahead may prove even more difficult as he attempts to balance the demands of domestic and European football.

  He said: “It can be tougher [playing in Europe]. I don’t want to come across as negative or pessimistic in any way, or almost having that mindset going into next season. We need to go into next season full of positivity and full of what can be.

  “We want to compete, we want to try to win a trophy, so we are very, very ambitious to move things on, but the challenges will get harder and we have to be better.”

  Tyneside has been bathed in euphoria since Monday night’s 0-0 draw with Leicester ensured just a third Champions League campaign for the club and took the pressure off Sunday’s trip to Chelsea.

  However, while he is determined to make an impression among Europe’s elite, Howe has no intention of forgetting the bread and butter of the Premier League.

  He said: “I look at the Premier League as your first target, the foundation to your season, really, so we won’t be going away from all eyes on the Premier League, all eyes on making sure we start as well as we can and we try to be as consistent as we can.

  “We won’t be taken off course in terms of our focus. The Champions League will start later on. It’s the foundation that we’re looking at and that’s the Premier League.”

  If the quest for Europe was something of a pipe dream back in August, the desperation to end a trophy drought which dates back to 1969 remains after despite February’s Carabao Cup final defeat, and that will not be pushed into the background either.

  Howe said: “We won’t look at the domestic cups and sacrifice them for the Champions League. That’s not my mindset sitting here now.

  “We want to try to win a trophy and we came very close this year. We want to go one step further.”