Ex-England boss Gareth Southgate makes shock claim about his next role amid strong Man Utd links

Gareth Southgate has dropped the clearest hit yet about his next role after stepping down as England manager.

Southgate resigned from his role in charge of the Three Lions following their 2-1 defeat to Spain in the final of Euro 2024.

It was the second successive Euros final that England had lost under Southgate, following their heartbreaking penalty shootout loss to Italy at Euro 2020.

Lee Carsley was placed in charge of England following Southgate's resignation and has guided the team to consecutive 2-0 wins over Ireland and Finland in current international break.

Former England U21 boss Carsley is among the favourites for the role on a permanent basis, along with Eddie Howe and Graham Potter.

Southgate, meanwhile, has joined UEFA as a technical observer since leaving England but is yet to find his next full-time role.

The former England international has been strongly linked with Manchester United and is the current favourite to replace Erik ten Hag, should the Dutchman be sacked after a slow start to the season.

Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, Southgate said he has "no regrets" about stepping down as England boss and suggested his next job could come away from football entirely.

"I've got lots of opportunities, I'm very open-minded to what's next," he said.

"That might be in football, that might be outside of football. I'm just going to take some time, refresh, recharge and go from there.

"I think at the moment people know that I need to get my energy back."

Responding to recent comments from Gary Lineker questioning his squad choices, Southgate revealed said he had "shut [himself] off from everything" since leaving England.

Gareth Southgate is without a full-time role after leaving England (Image: Getty)

"There's no point in me talking about the team now," he added.

"It's for me to let other people take over, to give them the space to go and take the team on to the next challenges. There's no point in me getting involved in anything like that."

Southgate said he had an "incredible eight-year journey with the team" and that it had been "an absolute privilege" to manage his country at four major tournaments.

"I think it was probably the right time for change," he said.

"I don't think you can have regrets. We made decisions with the information we had at the time to try and produce a winning team."

"We raised expectations and that was important. We needed to put English football back on the map," he added.