Gareth Southgate addresses ongoing Manchester United managerial links

England boss Gareth Southgate.
England boss Gareth Southgate. (Image credit: Getty Images)

England boss Gareth Southgate has addressed ongoing speculation linking him with taking the reigns at Manchester United.

The Three Lions manager is under contract with the FA until December 2024 but talk of him replacing Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford has continued to heighten in recent weeks.

Southgate, 53, has only previously managed one club side in Middlesbrough but has spent the last 11 years in the England set-up.

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Given managers including Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Jose Mourinho have also been linked with replacing Ten Hag this summer, Southgate admitted his name is not one any punters should be racing to back.

"I'm not a big gambling man. They can make their odds but it's not a conversation that's been had with me," he told ITV.

"I've got one thing to focus on and that's having as successful a tournament with England as possible. Everything else is a complete irrelevance to me."

"If I start talking about that, then I'm already distracted from what I'm doing, so I think the country would expect that my focus is on England, and rightly so."

England boss Gareth Southgate has been continually linked with the Manchester United job.

England boss Gareth Southgate has been continually linked with the Manchester United job. (Image credit: Getty Images)

With his future with England beyond this summer still relatively unclear, it remains to be seen whether Southgate will venture back into club management.

Often a tricky transition, the former Aston Villa man added in a separate interview that he is relaxed regarding when discussing the situation.

"For me, it's not an issue and it never has been," he stressed. "I have to deliver a successful tournament for England. There's enough work involved in that.

"There will always be speculation about managers, because if you lose a couple of games, you're in trouble - you win a couple of games and it is a different agenda."

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Matthew Holt

Matthew is a Freelance Journalist and has racked up bylines for Manchester United, Manchester Evening News, GOAL and SPORTbible to name a few. A long-term sufferer of Scunthorpe United, he currently resides in the north-west after escaping the smog of North Lincolnshire.