England boss Gareth Southgate sends World Cup message to Sancho, Rashford and Henderson

Manchester United’s chaotic season has left Harry Maguire as the last man standing from Old Trafford in the England squad. But Gareth Southgate has held out an olive branch to those at the club not involved next month – and indeed anybody else who feels overlooked so close to the World Cup.

With the final two UEFA Nations League matches not until September, the England manager promises there is still time to book a place on the plane to Qatar. Jarrod Bowen of West Ham and Leicester right-back James Justin were the ones to be given their first chance to impress this time around.

The first four games in the competition take place in Hungary, Germany and then back in England against Italy and Hungary again. The Three Lions will be forced to play behind closed doors at Molineux against European champions Italy.

Jordan Henderson was “rested” but Tyrone Mings was another high-profile name to have been cut from the 27-man group named by Southgate at Wembley. And it is the absence of those United names such as Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Jesse Lingard and Luke Shaw which is so striking.

Youth has very much been given its head with Marc Guehi holding onto his spot and Fikayo Tomori joining up after a successful season in Serie A with AC Milan. Of course, such a policy brings with it fears of burn-out and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was among a number of managers who admitted expressing their concerns to Southgate ahead of these final fixtures.

“We’ve spoken,” the England manager said. “I speak with a lot of managers about different situations, so I think Mikel knows we’ve always looked after players well.

“We’ve never risked someone with injury. We’ve given all the players a week off this week, which not every country does. We’ve found that has worked well for us. But the players all want to be here and know the importance of the games for them.”