This is my England team for European Championship

England manager Gareth Southgate has some tough choices to make just to cut down his European Championship squad, never mind deciding on who gets the starting spots, but I have attempted to make things easier by giving the Three Lions gaffer a bit of a nudge.

Here's how I would have England lining up at the Euros in a 4-2-3-1 formation - in my opinion the semi-finals have to be the minimum target for such a talented bunch.

Goalkeeper - Jordan Pickford: Football is a team game but within that there is no more individual role than that of the goalkeeper, who I think needs to be judged slightly differently than other areas.

It's such a crucial position and Jordan Pickford, although not having had a great season for Everton, has always been solid enough for England and it may be a little late to make a swap unless he has an absolute nightmare between now and the summer.

Right-back - Reece James: The perfect England right-back would be Trent Alexander-Arnold going forward - he is like David Beckham with his delivery - and Aaron Wan-Bissaka defensively, as the Manchester United man is arguably the best in one-on-one situations in the Premier League.

You could go horses for courses and use Alexander-Arnold for the games which look easy on paper and Wan-Bissaka in the latter stages of the tournament, but I think the best all-rounder in the position is Reece James. The Chelsea man puts in a lovely cross and also defends well.

Centre-backs - John Stones and Harry Maguire: I remember sitting down with my dad in the early autumn to pick our England teams for the Euros and I had Tyrone Mings alongside Harry Maguire at the time because it is preferable to have a right-footer alongside a left-footer. I also think Maguire is a lot better when he has pace around him.

Hever, the performances of John Stones for Manchester City in recent months make him a must alongside the United skipper.

Left-back - Luke Shaw: A powerful defender who is also dangerous going forward, Luke Shaw gets the nod over Ben Chilwell, who is job-sharing with Marcos Alonso at Chelsea since Thomas Tuchel switched the Blues to a back three with wing-backs.

Holding midfielders - Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice: With a back four I think you need two sitters to add protection rather than just one, unless you have an N'Golo Kante type who does the work of two men.

Jordan Henderson's leadership skills at Liverpool have been shown in recent years and Declan Rice just edges out Kalvin Phillips.

The way Rice has evolved into more than just a centre-back playing in front of the defence has been incredible. He is now more of a midfield marauder but it is still really close between Rice and Phillips, who has the better range of passing in my book.

Number ten - Jack Grealish: I am a big fan of Mason Mount and you could also make a case for Phil Foden in this or a wider position, but after the season he has had it's got to be Jack Grealish who gets playmaking duties.

Maybe Southgate felt he couldn't trust Grealish previously but those days are in the past. Maybe he was easily led, but I got to work closely with him when I covered the Championship and he has always been a great lad. H has done so well that even Southgate had to take notice.

I'd love to chat to Gareth off the record and hear why he didn't fancy the Villa man but those days are surely gone for good. Grealish has a special ability and nothing will faze him in terms of the magnitude of a game - he plays every match as if he is down the park with mates.

Wingers - Raheem Sterling & Marcus Rashford: Neither of these two wants to play on the right but I would be telling them to keep swapping unless one of them has the opposition full-back on toast.

Jadon Sancho and Foden are pushing here but I have gone for reliability as well as ability, and Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford have done well for England previously.

Striker - Harry Kane: Nobody gets even close to Kane in this team - he is simply one of the best strikers in world football.

If Kane stays fit he could become the greatest England goalscorer, Tottenham's greatest goalscorer and maybe even the Premier League's top goalscorer too, but I don't know why he signed such a long-term deal to stay with Spurs.

He should be winning major trophies at club level - the Premier League and Champions League - and it's not going to happen in north London.

I expect him to stay at Tottenham, because who's going to pay what Daniel Levy will demand for him? At the sort of money being spoken about you could get a superior long-term prospect such as Erling Haaland.

Scott Minto presents the Racing Post's weekly YouTube football show Different League in association with Betfred

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