By Tom Gott
Gareth Southgate has admitted he is cautiously optimistic that left-back Luke Shaw will be fit enough to return for England's second group game at this summer's European Championships.
Shaw managed just 15 games in all competitions for Manchester United last season and has not played competitively since picking up a muscle injury in February.
While United teammate Harry Maguire was left out because of his own fitness issues, Southgate confessed he was prepared to take a risk with Shaw, who is the only natural left-back in the entire squad.
"Luke Shaw has progressed really well over the past couple of weeks," Southgate explained. "At the moment, we feel he could have some involvement in the second group game against Denmark, but of course you've got to keep hitting the markers.
"He's had a good volume of work and is operating at good speeds as well so I think you can take one gamble. That's a gamble where we've got enough evidence that it could pay off.
"Positionally, because of what he brings with his experience and the fact that he is a left-footer who can drive forward and give us another attacking option as well, that was a situation we wanted to explore."
Shaw was back in partial team training on Thursday but still has plenty of work to do before returning to full action.
In his absence, right-back Kieran Trippier was deployed on the left in the 3-0 friendly victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, with versatile Liverpool centre-back also comfortable filling in out at full-back.
Gomez played 19 games on the left of Liverpool's defence last season when the Reds lost both Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas to injury, and his resurgence was impressive enough to earn him a recall to the international scene for the first time since October 2020.
This article was originally published on 90min.com as Gareth Southgate reveals when 'gamble' Luke Shaw could return from injury.
