Southgate Highlights Mainoo's Talent As England Rallies For Euro 2024

England manager Gareth Southgate has expressed confidence in the talent of Kobbie Mainoo following the Manchester United youngster's impressive season. Mainoo scored in Saturday's FA Cup final, helping Man Utd secure a 2-1 victory over Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. At 19, Mainoo became the first English teenager to score in an FA Cup final since Steve MacKenzie in 1981.

This goal capped a remarkable breakthrough campaign for Mainoo, earning him a spot in England's preliminary squad for Euro 2024. As the Three Lions gathered for their pre-tournament training camp, Southgate praised the young midfielder. "The curious thing about young talent is how they will cope under pressure," Southgate said in an interview with England's media channels.

"You can see the technical ability, but it's about how tactically aware they are, how mature, and their ability to cope with big matches. When you're playing for Manchester United, you're always under the spotlight. He's shown that with them and with us in March. We've never been afraid to put young players in. If players are good enough, we're not so concerned about their age."

Southgate added, "Kobbie has had an excellent season, and it was great for him to finish the season with a goal and a trophy." The England manager faces tough decisions as he prepares to cut his 33-man squad to 26 players ahead of the tournament in Germany. "It will be extremely difficult," he said. "It was very difficult to leave players out of this 33, and there are some younger players coming in with slightly different expectations."

England will play warm-up friendlies against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland next week before starting their group-stage campaign on June 16 against Serbia. Denmark and Slovenia will follow for England, who aim to improve on their runners-up finish to Italy in the last European Championship three years ago.

Southgate continued, "There are so many aspects to being with this group of people that I love. Ultimately, we're trying to form a team and a group that have got to push each other and be there for each other. There's a team dynamic that's crucial to winning that we have to find."

"People will have slightly different roles than they do with their clubs. At their club, all of these guys are pretty much the first choice on the team sheet, so some have different roles in the next few weeks. The challenge of winning the games and the excitement of seeing our fans out there in some of the biggest occasions in world football is why you're in the game really. That's what we're looking forward to," Southgate concluded.