Gareth Southgate is eager to welcome Jude Bellingham to the England camp after the midfielder’s Champions League victory with Real Madrid but emphasized, “we are not putting everything on him.”
England endured a disappointing 1-0 loss to Iceland in their final Euro 2024 warm-up match at Wembley on Friday.
Bellingham, 20, is the last player to join the 26-man squad, having been granted extra time off following his Champions League triumph.
Asked if Bellingham will help lift the squad, Southgate said: “I’m sure he will but it is not his responsibility to do that.
“I’m sure he is [capable of handling the pressure] but we are not putting everything on Jude. We’ve got a lot of good players and it is a collective thing to go and try to win this tournament
“He is, of course, a player with a fabulous mentality and will have a big impact on the whole group.”
In his debut season in Spain, Bellingham was named La Liga Player of the Season, having scored 19 goals to help Real Madrid clinch the title by a 10-point margin.
Despite the defeat against Iceland, Southgate praised two other young players in his squad.
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka made a substitute appearance after missing much of England’s recent training, while Chelsea’s Cole Palmer earned his fourth cap following a “fabulous” season at the club.
“It was also good to get Bukayo on the pitch. He has missed a lot of the training and we needed to see him out there as well.”
On Palmer he added: “He’s had a fabulous season and got himself into a couple of fabulous positions. He probably took a touch too many on both occasions, but the fact is he was in there on both occasions and looked dangerous.”
England begin their Euro 2024 campaign against Serbia on Sunday, 16 June, in Gelsenkirchen.