Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United will play a friendly just three days after the Premier League season has ended, but England manager Gareth Southgate has admitted the plans are not ideal for his preparations for Euro 2024.
The football season is already intense and congested as it is, but Spurs and Newcastle are set to extend their campaign by playing a friendly against one another on May 22nd. The game will take place in Melbourne.
Apparently, Tottenham and Newcastle expect all fit players to attend the trip (Mail Sport). That includes any international players who may be preparing for Euro 2024, which kicks off on June 14th.
The likes of James Maddison, Anthony Gordon, and Kieran Trippier will more than likley be part of the friendly, and could well be part of Southgate’s England squad for the tournament.
Southgate laments Spurs and Newcastle friendly
Southgate has expressed his disapproval of these plans for a friendly, but admits he understands why the game is being played.
He told the Daily Mail: “[End of season friendlies are] going to happen more and more. Why? Financial fair play means clubs need to generate their own money, so we’re in a bizarre world where there’s more money in the game than ever before, and yet everyone is scrambling across federations and clubs to generate more.
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“The normal way of doing that is to play more games – so is that great news for us, in terms of preparation? No. But we’re going to have players in the FA Cup final probably, the Champions League final hopefully and a chance of a few other European finals, so we are used to preparing this way.
“We had to go to Qatar with five days prep, so we adjust to whatever it is and hope there are no injuries from that game [in Australia].”
Spurs Web Opinion
I don’t think this friendly is going to affect the England squad all that much. Like Southgate says, there are a number of big games taking place after the Spurs friendly that will likely involve other England players, and it’s just something he will have to deal with.
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