England news: BBC’s Charlie Slater - Lee Carsley the sensible choice to replace Southgate

BBC commentator Charlie Slater says Jurgen Klopp would be his ‘fantasy appointment’ to replace Gareth Southgate as England manager - but thinks they will select Lee Carsley on an interim basis.

Former Middlesbrough boss Southgate announced he was leaving the England manager role just days after losing to Spain in the final of Euro 2024 in Berlin.

Southgate was under contract with the Football Association until December 2024 - but stepped down having fallen at the final hurdle in a second consecutive European Championships.

England reached the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley under Southgate’s stewardship - but lost agonisingly to Italy in a penalty shootout.

But the Three Lions were comprehensively outplayed by the Spaniards in Germany, where they scraped their way into the final following several underwhelming performances.

That led to Southgate calling time on his tenure, with former Chelsea boss Graham Potter and England Under-21s manager Lee Carsley leading the race to replace him according to bookies.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is also reportedly in the running - but Slater thinks the FA’s sensible route would be to appoint from within, and promote Carsley into the senior role.

He told the Sports News Blitz podcast: “My fantasy appointment would be Jurgen Klopp - but it's not going to happen for many reasons.

“But with Jurgen Klopp - could you imagine that small concentrated dose of intensity and passion because he knows he's only got the players for a few days each time.

“Could you imagine that small dose of intensity injected into that squad with that ability and with his heavy-metal football?

“That would be fun but as that's not going to happen, I think whoever does go in next has to work within the framework that the FA and Gareth Southgate have established over the last few years.

“I've been very fortunate. I've been to St George's Park on a number of occasions when the men's squads, women's squads and junior squads are there and there is a level of excellence which transcends all of those squads, it's there for every single group.

“So with that in mind, Lee Carsley is the current kind of favourite, as he is the Under-21s coach.

“It wouldn't be an exciting appointment for many because, well, he's the Under-21s coach - but I covered the Under-21s final last year in which England's U21s beat Spain's U21s.

“I watched a lot of them through that tournament - and the way that he's got them playing would massively suit this group.

“I don't think Lee Carsley is as bad a shout as what everybody is making. He understands the set-up. He works within that framework, and I think he'd get them playing some lovely football.

“The talk is he might do it on an interim basis - and if he gets appointed as an interim, I think behind closed doors that would actually be considered as a permanent appointment.

“But they'll announce it as an interim just to see how it goes.

“I have immense confidence in them to get it right, and I think they will get it right.

“Also if you're not looking at Lee Carsley, who are you looking at? You're looking at Eddie Howe, you're looking at Graham Potter, you know.

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“Nobody bites my hand off there. So I think stay with what you've got. You've got a good thing going. You've got a good framework going by employing from within.

“All of this progress and momentum that they have undoubtedly built over Gareth Southgate's reign, the last thing you want is for all of that to get washed away by one bad appointment.

“So it has to be the right appointment. In an ideal world, you want someone who is a serial winner. Who's that again? You are going back to people like Klopp or [Jose] Mourinho or, you know, Pep [Guardiola] - and they are appointments that aren't going to happen.

“So with that in mind, I think you have to employ someone that you know, someone that you trust in, that knows the system and knows the framework.

“You don't obviously want all of this to go to waste with this generation here.

“What I would say is that the majority of them are young. You know, you look at the best and brightest players that England have, even if you look at the back end defensively with the likes of Mark Guehi, who has come in and looked very assured and then you go through the team.

“Declan Rice is young, Phil Foden is young. Jude Bellingham is 20. Cole Palmer is young. Anthony Gordon is young. Ollie Watkins is 28.

“You know, you go through the team and they are young, so a lot of them are at the start of their journey and we all want things now. That is culture. We want things right away.

“We don't want them in two or three, four years’ time. But there has to be an acceptance that this group is going to be better in four years’ time, when they're all mid-20s, than it is now when they're 19, 20 and 21.

“So they have to get the appointment right. Of course they do. And you want an established proven winner because you hope that can then rub off onto the group of players.

“But the vast majority of these players are established winners. Jude Bellingham just won the Champions League, Phil Foden has won five Premier League's already and he's still a kid.

“They are already a group of winners. I think they just need someone to play to their strengths and I'm not sure that they've had that yet.

“They've not had a manager with England that has managed to find a way to play them to their strengths.”

Slater also took the time to reflect on England’s defeat to Spain and feels Southgate can look back on his legacy with pride.

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He added: “There's no shame in losing to a team like Spain. My goodness, they have played that sort of possession-based football for quite literally generations and they have some wonderful players coming through.

“But I just think there's an element of frustration that at times we couldn't get the best out of the talent that was on offer.

“But that said, Gareth Southgate has done a remarkable job when you consider what he inherited in his first game.

“We were looking the other day in the office and I think Ryan Bertrand was at fullback and Jesse Lingard was on the left wing and you know, you went through that team and you went, my goodness.

“The group of players that have come through now and the platform and environment that Gareth Southgate and his coaches have helped to create is only going to help with success in years to come.

“So I think Southgate can go away from his time as England manager with his head held high.

“I thought that Spain would have to have an off day and England would have to be kind of eights and nine out of ten across the board. And so when that wasn't to be then it was always going to feel like one outcome.

“Spain were the best team in the tournament, not just because they won the game, but they beat France, they beat Germany on the way to the final.

“They won seven straight games. They were the best team. The one element of hope that I had with England was that if nothing else, this team had a way of finding a way.

“Finding away is possibly as important a quality as any. And so I thought that might be the only kind of saving grace for England. But ultimately it's about what you do as a team.

“Spain are a better, more drilled unit who are many, many years into this cycle of playing this style of football. And you can't forget this is a team that won the World Cup not too long ago.”

“Sometimes winning ain't for everybody. And at the moment it clearly ain't for England, but it is for Spain.”