‘Everybody sees it’ – Palace boss Glasner on Eze’s strengths for England Euro 2024 call
BY ANDREW MCSTEEN
Former Crystal Palace captain and now England manager Gareth Southgate will name his training squad for this summer’s European Championship in Germany on Tuesday.
Last year, the Eagles trio of goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, defender Marc Guehi and attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze were regulars in Southgate’s England squads before injuries to all three curtailed their continued Three Lions careers going into 2024.
While Johnstone is currently injured, having picked up an injury on England duty in March, both Guehi and Eze are back playing.
Guéhi is widely-expected to be named in the squad on Tuesday and Palace fans have been hoping that he could be joined by Eze, who has been in scintillating form in recent weeks.
“Just watch our games, these are the arguments,” said Glasner when asked if the Greenwich-born attacker has a strong argument to be included on Tuesday.
“It’s nothing I just see because everybody sees it – he scores goals, he creates chances. It’s no secret – everybody knows.
“But it’s Gareth Southgate’s decision and this is one of the biggest strengths of the English squad: fantastic offensive players like (Bukayo) Saka, (Phil) Foden, (Jack) Grealish, (Harry) Kane and I forgot some players for sure. It’s finding the right mix of these players and this is Gareth Southgate’s part.”
Along with Guéhi and possibly Eze, both Tyrick Mitchell and Dean Henderson – who have already appeared for England under Southgate – have impressed in recent months and have an outside chance of making the squad, while there are growing calls for recent England U21 debutant Adam Wharton to make the step up to the senior thanks to a blistering final quarter of the season since moving to South London in February.
“I wish the best to our players – they showed it in the last weeks and I can just speak about the last weeks because I don’t know what happened before,” said Glasner about the possibility of other players in his squad being selected by Southgate and for other national teams.
“They have shown excellent performances individually and as a team. This is what the players can do; show that they are ready to play for their country, and then coaches and managers make the decisions.”