Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp says anything other than an England victory at Euro 2024 wouldn’t be deemed as a success.
England go into the tournament as the favourites with the bookmakers, as they look to win a first major international trophy since winning the World Cup in 1966.
The Three Lions boast one of the strongest squads of recent times, with Champions League winner Jude Bellingham, Bundesliga top scorer Harry Kane and Premier League Player of the Season Phil Foden all in fine form ahead of the 17th edition of the European Championship in Germany.
“I think the England squad is full of great talent,” Redknapp told Gulf News ahead of his visit to Dubai next week for the ‘Here’s Harry’ episode of the Hollywood Balls podcast at Emirates Golf Club.
“Jude Bellingham could play for any team in the world, Phil Foden is brilliant, and you’ve got the best centre forward in the world with Harry Kane.
“I think we’re entitled to win something. Euro 2024 is there for us to win. If we fail to win it, I don’t see that as a success.
“A semi-final or getting beat in the final is no good, we need to win something.”
Gareth Southgate’s side were the runners-up at the last European Championship after losing to Italy on penalties at Wembley despite taking an early lead, while Southgate’s two World Cup outings as manager ended at the semi final in 2018 and quarter final in 2022.
While many England fans have praised Southgate for taking England to the latter stages of tournaments more often, others believe his England team should have already hoisted international silverware in his eight-year tenure.
“I think we’ve had the squad to win (since Southgate took over),” added Redknapp.
“I felt like we should have beaten Italy in the final of the last European Championship. It wasn’t a great Italian side, that’s for sure – they were there to beat.
“With the squad we’ve had, I thought we would have won something.
“Even the last World Cup I thought was there for the taking, as there weren’t too many great teams competing.
“Messi obviously came back to life to help Argentina win, but I thought England had a great chance to win that tournament.”
Southgate needs to be positive
I wrote an article last month pleading that Southgate let’s this English team off the leash in a bid to end the trophy drought.
As well as the aforementioned trio of Kane, Foden and Bellingham, England can also call on the likes of Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Ollie Watkins, Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze. It’s an impressive wealth of attacking talent that plenty of other nations will be envious of.
Southgate has been guilty in the past of sitting back rather than going for the kill in the big games. He must learn from that and go on the offensive in Germany.
Redknapp agrees.
“We’ve got the talent to go and rip any team to pieces,” said Redknapp.
“Let them go and play. England don’t need to play two defensive midfielders because who is there to be scared of? I don’t see many teams to fear. I only really see four teams, England, Germany, France and Portugal.
“I don’t see much else where I’m thinking ‘my god, they’ve got some good players’.
“I’m sure one or two sides will cause a few upsets and win games they’re not expected to win, but as far as winning the tournament goes, I can only see them four teams that look good enough.
“We’ve seen shocks before, I accept that, but for me, England have the best squad in the tournament.
“We’ve got to make sure we play out great attacking options. There will probably be boys that don’t even get a game, like Eze and Palmer, who would walk into any team. He scored 20 odd goals last season at Chelsea.
“I hope Southgate is positive and we really take the game to the opposition. If the other team score two, then we will score three – that’s the way I see it.
“We can beat anybody.”
Football fans can catch Redknapp and the Hollywood Balls podcast on June 20 at Spike Bar, Emirates Golf Club. Tickets are Dhs200, with Dhs150 redeemable on F&B.
