Gareth Southgate admits he has taken 'gamble' over inclusion of one player in Euro 2024 squad as fitness update issued

Gareth Southgate has admitted that he has taken a 'gamble' over the inclusion of Luke Shaw in his final 26-man squad for Euro 2024 - and has outlined when he expects him to be fit to play.

The Manchester United defender has been suffering from a hamstring injury since February, which forced him to miss the end of the season at club level.

Shaw has been undertaking an individual training programme away from the rest of the England group, but is yet to return to action.

He is the only natural left-back named in the final squad by Southgate, with Kieran Trippier and Joe Gomez also able to play in the position.

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That has put Shaw's recovery timeframe under the microscope - with little indication of when the 28-year-old could return to full fitness.

But speaking in his press conference after the squad was announced, Southgate has expanded on when England expect to be able to call upon the left-back.

He said: "He's progressed really well in the past couple of weeks.

"At the moment, I think he could have some involvement in the second group game. But of course, you have to keep hitting the markers.

"He's had a good volume of work, and he's operating at good speeds as well.

"I think you can take one gamble [in the squad], and that's the gamble that we've got enough evidence to believe can pay off.

"Also positionally, what he brings with his experience, the fact that he's a left-footer who can drive forward, he gives us that attacking option as well. That's a situation we wanted to explore."

In answering a separate question about the defender's return to fitness, Southgate confirmed that Shaw is still undergoing a rehabilitation process and definitively ruled him out of Friday's friendly against Iceland.

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