Gary Lineker breaks 20-year tradition with England prediction as ex-Three Lions striker makes bold trophy claim

Gareth Southgate has pieced together a 26-man squad that he believes is capable of chasing down continental glory this summer. The general consensus is that England – who finished as runners-up at the last European Championship – are ready to bring 58 years of international heartache to a close in the men’s game.

Lineker believes as much, with a man who hit 48 goals for his country and helped them to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1990, telling The Rest is Football podcast: “People say to me, ‘you always pick England, you always do’ – I haven’t tipped England to win a tournament since 2004. But this time, I actually think England will go all the way. Obviously it’s a knockout tournament so things can go wrong but I think we will win one of the next four tournaments because this team is only going to get better and better.”

Lineker’s fellow former England striker, Alan Shearer, agrees with that assessment – with the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer adding on the Three Lions’ chances of ending their barren run on the silverware front: “I think we should be super excited about this team. The front half of that team is incredible, there’s so much talent in that team. We should be really, really excited. They can win this tournament, no doubt about that. I think it’s important we go for it because we shouldn’t be afraid of anyone. This is our best chance for a long, long time.”

England have not enjoyed the best of preparations for Euros duty, having suffered a shock defeat to Iceland in their final warm-up game, but Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham has joined Harry Kane and Co in Southgate’s ranks since then and the countdown is on to a tournament opener against Serbia on Sunday.