Gareth Southgate to be handed new deal to keep him in charge until 2022

Gareth Southgate will be England’s manager until at least the next World Cup if he achieves the straightforward goal of qualifying for Euro 2020, it can be revealed.

Such is the Football Association’s support of Southgate that it is  understood a two-year extension to his deal, which ends in 2020, will be triggered once qualification for the expanded European Championship in that year has been secured.

It had previously been thought that his continuation would be  dependent on his performance at the tournament, which will be played around Europe, with several matches, including the final, being held in England.

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Southgate came into this World Cup knowing that even if he failed to get the national team out of the group, his job would not be under threat. The former England defender has been hugely impressive since he succeeded Sam Allardyce, after his one game in charge, with the FA understanding that it needed to back a manager for the long haul.

The FA appointed Southgate on a four-year deal in November 2016, with the two-year extension in that contract, after the Under-21 manager had taken charge of the senior team in an interim capacity for four matches following Allardyce’s abrupt dismissal.

Southgate, 47, has built on that impressive work in Russia where he has guided England to a quarter-final tie against Sweden in Samara tomorrow. Come through that and England will face either Russia or Croatia for a place in the World Cup final for the first time since they won the trophy in 1966.

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With that in mind, it would be no surprise if the FA even decided to renegotiate his contract anyway as a reward for what he has achieved so far. Southgate knows that despite the current success there is no quick fix and a great deal of work to be done. He acknowledged as much last night, saying: “I’m a long way from perfect. I think it’s dangerous territory if I start to get carried away with things but I am proud of the way the team is playing.

“Although our team will be individually better in two years with more life experience, maybe the cards on injuries and things won’t fall as kindly and we won’t get this opportunity again.

“It’s a huge privilege to be able to send everybody to work happy, to be able to make a difference to  people lives. Football can bring connection through country and I’m delighted we are exciting  people, bringing enjoyment and we want to keep it going.”

That continued on Thursday with preparations for the Sweden match, although Southgate said that Jamie Vardy was unlikely to be fit after suffering a groin injury during the tough last-16 tie against Colombia. However, it is understood the striker is likely be on the bench.

“The injuries: Vardy didn’t train today, so is looking doubtful for this game, but we’ll know a bit more  tomorrow, really,” Southgate said. “The others were all on the pitch. We didn’t do a lot. I think at this stage, minimal time on the pitch, a lot of our information is going to have to be in meetings. Because it really is as much about recovery, physical and psychological, as  everything else.

“The downside of that is we can’t push the players enough today to see whether they’re OK. So we’ll know some more tomorrow. We’ll have to make late decisions. I think every team will be in the same boat on that.”

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The injury concerns have largely centred on Vardy, Ashley Young (ankle), Dele Alli (thigh) and Kyle Walker (cramp), with Harry Kane declaring himself fit after tightness in a calf muscle.

“Young and Walker, we’ve no reason to believe they’re serious  issues. They were back on their feet today,” Southgate said. “Dele was absolutely fine after the game.”

Southgate added: “But, equally, there might be a couple of others, who until they’re extending themselves a bit more … I think when you’ve had a long game like that, you don’t know until you’ve really started to extend in training again exactly what you might be carrying.

“If we’ve got players that are 75 per cent, then the guys who haven’t been in the team deserve to come in and be at 100 per cent.”