England boss Southgate admits dropping Trippier one of his toughest decisions

GARETH SOUTHGATE claimed dropping Kieran Trippier from England’s squad was one of his toughest decisions.

The Tottenham right-back last night became one of four trimmed from the initial group ahead of Uefa’s Nations League tournament in Portugal.

Trippier, 28, struggled for form since scoring the opening goal of the 2-1 World Cup semi-final loss to Croatia in Russia last summer.

Spurs pal Harry Winks plus Southampton duo Nathan Redmond and James Ward-Prowse also failed to make the cut.

England face Holland in Guimaraes in the semi- finals on June 6.

Boss Southgate has shown a brutal edge in the past — axing Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart.

He  said: “Kieran Trippier has had such a big impact, he had such a brilliant World Cup.

“He has been a really valuable member of our squad and has a great attitude with us — real passion in playing for England but Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kyle Walker have finished the season so strongly.

“So it is a position where we have got real competition for places. That is as hard a decision as we have had to make.

“Harry Winks is a player we really like and that’s a tough one because he has not played for a couple of months and we don’t get to see him in training.

“He is training with Spurs, he may be involved in the Champions League final at the weekend but we wouldn’t see him until two days before the game.

“So when we had other midfielders who are either with us or who are  playing regularly, that was the only thinking behind that decision.

“Harry could still come into that mix and has done very well for us whenever he has played with us.”

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England started preparations last Tuesday before the players were sent home for the weekend.

They reunited yesterday, along with Manchester City’s FA Cup players Walker, John Stones and Raheem Sterling — plus Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.

The players involved in the two European club finals will not arrive until next Monday.

Southgate added: “We have got exciting players and picking a squad is really difficult because we have lots of depth of  talent, not only the squad we have picked but the Under-21s as well.

“There have been some difficult decisions and we are obviously a little bit complicated with so many players involved in the Champions League but we are excited by the squad and the players around it.

“It is similar to the preparation for the World Cup as people arrived at different times depending on whether they were  finished at the end of the league season.

“We have got used to working with the group in that way.

“What is nice is you get another burst of energy as each group arrives.

“Again, the training shifts up another level and everybody is excited to be back together and we’ll get that again next week when the rest of the team report as well.”

Portugal battle it out  with Switzerland in the other Nations League semi and Southgate’s Three Lions will meet one of them in the final or the third-place play-off on Sunday week.

He  said: “Some like James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond will stay  to train because, although we’ve cut the squad to 23, we still have two weeks to get through.”