England face club vs country row as two Premier League clubs play friendly in AUSTRALIA three days after season ends
ENGLAND are facing a club vs country row over Newcastle and Tottenham’s end-of-season Australian friendly.
The two Premier League sides are playing in Melbourne on May 22, just days before Gareth Southgate‘s squad meet to begin their final preparations for Euro 2024.
Newcastle are expecting England internationals Kieran Trippier and Anthony Gordon to be involved despite the fact they will be preparing for the tournament in Germany.
Tottenham will not confirm their travelling squad until closer to the time but have not ruled out international players being involved.
Both squads, who will make a 21,000-mile round trip, include players who will be involved in the Euros or Copa America.
While the Euros does not begin until June 14, the England squad will start to gather at St. George’s Park from May 27, with Southgate naming his training camp squad on May 21.
Trippier, Gordon and Tottenham’s James Maddison are all likely to be included in that group, meaning Southgate will not want to see them flying to the other side of the world for a meaningless fixture.
England are expected to hold talks with both clubs following the March international break as they gear up for the summer.
Southgate likes to give players a week off after their final club game before they come into camp for a major tournament.
And with England expects player arrivals to be staggered due to potential involvement in the FA Cup or European finals.
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If an agreement cannot be reached between club and country to stop Three Lions players travelling to Australia, Southgate will make allowances to give those involved some time off before joining the squad.
Any accommodations made for the players involved in the friendly would mean them missing out on training sessions ahead of warm-up games against Bosnia and Iceland.
Spurs are pitching the match, to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, as a homecoming for boss Ange Postecoglou, who grew up in the city and played for and managed South Melbourne as well as Melbourne Victory.