England boss Gareth Southgate willing to take group stage ‘gamble’ on Luke Shaw

Gareth Southgate expects Luke Shaw to be available for England’s second group game after taking a “gamble” on the Manchester United left-back’s fitness for Euro 2024.

The 28-year-old has endured an injury-hit season and been out since mid-February with his latest muscle complaint, putting his place in Germany in serious jeopardy.

Southgate admitted Shaw was a “long shot” and something of a “wild card” when naming his initial 33-man training squad, but steady progress saw the Euro 2020 final goalscorer make the final cut on Thursday.

“He’s progressed really well in the last couple of weeks,” said the England boss, who left out United team-mate Harry Maguire due to fitness issues of his own.

“At the moment, we think he can have some involvement in the second group game. But of course, you’ve got to keep hitting the markers.

“He’s had a good volume of work operating at good speeds as well. I think you can take one gamble and that’s the gamble that we’ve got enough evidence to believe it can pay off.

“And also, positionally, because of what he brings, with his experience, the fact he’s a left-footer who can drive forward and give us a different attacking option as well, then it is a situation we wanted to explore.”