GARETH SOUTHGATE has told Newcastle United’s England contingent that playing in the Champions League will enhance their prospects of featuring in next summer’s European Championships in Germany.

With Monday’s seven-goal thrashing of North Macedonia having left England sitting pretty with maximum points at the top of their qualifying group, thoughts are already turning to next summer’s Euros, where England will attempt to go one better than in 2021, when they lost to Italy in the final at Wembley.

Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson were all part of the squad at last year’s World Cup finals in Qatar, and will hope to retain their places for Germany, while the likes of Joe Willock and Anthony Gordon could also find themselves knocking on the door if they excel with Newcastle next season.

For the first time in more than two decades, the Magpies will be playing Champions League football again next term, and while Southgate places a large amount of stock on the experiences his players gain within the England set-up, he admits exposure to the biggest matches on the club stage is also a major factor in his selection process. As a result, Pope, Trippier and Wilson should also see their England hopes boosted by their appearances in the Champions League this autumn.

“There’s experience of big matches within the squad,” said the England boss, who handed Trippier a start in Friday’s qualifying win in Malta and brought Wilson off the bench in both the Malta game and the home success over North Macedonia. “The more we can get of that next season, the better.

“They’re getting good experiences as a collective with us, but the experiences they can get with their clubs, on the biggest stages, are also important.

“We’ve always had moments where clubs have done well, but it’s then about how you match that in with England. Look at someone like Declan (Rice). When he first played with us, I remember the Nations League semi-final against Holland was the biggest game of his life.

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“He was still learning his trade and learning his position. Now, he’s played in a European final with us and a European final for his club. That’s been absolutely huge for his development.

“The experiences they have together are more important, but you can’t downplay the importance of those big-game experiences with their clubs. We’ve got the Manchester City boys with us, and they’re coming to join up with us as European champions. They’re going to carry that into the camp as well.”

This time last year, Southgate’s job was being called into question after his side crashed to a 4-0 defeat in a home Nations League game against Hungary at Molineux.

One year on, and after a successful World Cup campaign that saw England narrowly lose out to France in the quarter-finals, Southgate is confident his side are ready to kick on again next season in the build-up to the Euros.

“When you look back, last summer we had four matches, a couple of them behind closed doors, and we needed to rotate the squad and look at new players,” said the former Middlesbrough boss. “There were a lot of circumstances, as we knew at the time, around those performances and results.

“Post World Cup, I think we’ve hit a sweet spot where there’s a hunger to go further than we’ve been and a desire to keep pushing forward, but also a confidence from the matches we’ve played and big nights we’ve been involved in.

“There’s an ability they know they have. That’s a good place to be, but we have to keep pushing them now. They’ve set a standard in the last four games, against different sorts of opponents and in different environments, where anything can be possible.

“They’ve been really good to watch, exciting to watch, and there’s competition for individual places and competition to get in the squad. And around all of that, there’s a brilliant feel from them as a group. That is what creates a strong team, and I think the crowd have connected with that.”