Gareth Southgate excited by Bukayo Saka potential as Arsenal star prepares for England debut against Wales

Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP8 October 2020

England manager Gareth Southgate says he is excited by the talent of Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka as he prepares to hand the teenager an international debut in Thursday's friendly against Wales.

The 19-year-old and Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin are in line for their first England starts at Wembley as part of an experimental home team.

Saka is expected to play at left wing-back in a 3-4-3 system after Ben Chilwell was ruled out of the game for breaching the rule of six, along with Chelsea team-mate Tammy Abraham and Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.

Southgate warned his young stars that the “circus” that has engulfed the last two international camps threatens to “derail” their hopes of future tournament success, but he is also excited by the talent coming through.

“I’ve loved getting to know Bukayo this week, a really charming personality - you can really see how excited he is by everything,” Southgate told Standard Sport.

Arsenal's Bukayo Saka is set to make his first senior England appearance against Wales at Wembley on Thursday night
Arsenal FC via Getty Images

“He is an exciting player, we know he can play four or five different positions already. He’s done that for Arsenal: wide left, wide right, wing back, left-back.

“I think [him playing] left-back at this level would be a little bit more difficult, but in any of those advanced positions he is more than capable.

"Our performance tonight isn’t going to be perfect - we’ll have too may new players in who haven’t necessarily played together - but I think there’s a lot of exciting things they can do and we are excited to see them.”

Calvert-Lewin is expected to deputise for captain Harry Kane up top, while Wolves’ Conor Coady is set to be given another opportunity as part of a back three after impressing against Denmark last month.

Nick Pope will replace under-fire Jordan Pickford in goal, while Marcus Rashford and Harry Winks could all return after missing the Nations League double-header in September.

Chilwell, Abraham and Sancho are also in danger of missing Sunday’s Nations League qualifier against Belgium after they broke Covid-19 guidelines by attending a surprise birthday party for Abraham on Saturday.

The trio would need to be tested under Uefa protocols by Friday to enter the squad’s biosecure bubble in time to feature, but it is still unclear if they will be allowed to report to England’s training base in time.

The trio have apologised for their behaviour, which follows Harry Maguire’s conviction in Greece and subsequent withdrawal from the last England camp and the high-profile protocol breach by Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden, who were sent home from Iceland in disgrace last month after inviting two local women back to England’s hotel in Reykjavik.

“If you are going into major tournaments and have those sort of incidents, they can derail you,” Southgate said. “That wasn’t the case ahead of Russia [2018]. We went in with a very calm state and that allowed us to focus on our football.”

With Nations League qualifiers against Belgium on Sunday and Denmark next Tuesday to follow Thursday's game, Southgate insisted he was “not prepared to risk any player’s welfare” given the current top-flight fixture congestion.

The England boss also insisted he had “no issue at all” with Jose Mourinho mistakenly calling him ‘Gary’.

“He messaged me to apologise and I said to him there is only one Gareth he has got to get right - and he’ll score all the goals for him this year,” said Southgate.

Gareth Bale is not in the Wales squad for Thursday's game, however, while Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen are also set to miss out.

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