Ahead of their game against Slovenia at Euro 2024 on Tuesday, England are said to be keeping a careful eye on the fitness of defender Kieran Trippier.
Trippier, a natural right-back, has been filling in for the currently absent Luke Shaw at Euro 2024, with the Newcastle United star now understood to be 'nursing' a calf problem. The 33-year-old was seen receiving medical treatment in the latter stages of the Three Lions' 1-0 win over Serbia in Gelsenkirchen.
Gareth Southgate now faces a tough decision on whether or not to rest the experienced full-back against Slovenia, with the former Tottenham man having now played 180 minutes in Germany so far.
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According to a report from Telegraph Sport, Southgate has been managing Trippier’s fitness by swapping him at left-back with Ezri Konsa and Joe Gomez during training sessions, with the Newcastle defender taking his own precautions to try to avoid re-injuring himself.
Trippier is also claimed to be 'playing through the pain', with Shaw still not having fully recovered from the hamstring injury that kept him out of the final stages of Manchester United's season.
The Magpies star was seen drinking a shot of pickle juice during England's narrow win over Serbia, after going down with cramp in the final stages. He had also not completed 90 minutes for his club or country since February.
Southgate provided an update on Shaw's progression just a few days ago, stating that the 28-year-old is still not fully ready to be thrown into England's starting XI at the tournament.
“Luke won’t be involved tomorrow, no,” said Southgate on Wednesday evening prior to the Three Lions clash with Denmark. “He’s actually on track to where we thought he’d be originally. We were hoping, a couple of days ago, we might accelerate that a little bit, but he needs a bit more volume work.
“He didn’t train with the rest of the group today, because there are days when he needs to do more than the rest of the group and there are days when he needs to recover when the others are pushing. He’s still in and out with the others but operating on his own programme as well.”
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