'Doesn’t feel right': Neville says there's 'no way' Chelsea ace can start next Euro 2020 tie
Gary Neville can’t see how Chelsea star Mason Mount would be able to start for England in their next European Championship fixture.
Speaking on the ITV Football Football Show podcast, Neville broke down the situation Mount and England find themselves in.
The 22-year-old has been forced to isolate after coming into contact with covid-positive Billy Gilmour on Friday following England’s stalemate with Scotland.
Mount, Gilmour and Ben Chilwell all had to be separated from their respective groups, which meant they missed the final group games contested last night.
England’s next knock-out match will be held on Tuesday, the same day Mount and Chilwell can rejoin their peers.
Neville says ‘no chance’
There’s some debate over whether the Chelsea midfielder should come straight back into Gareth Southgate’s side despite being unable to train with the squad.
Neville was adamant this shouldn’t be the case considering how little preparation time with the squad Mount would have.
Manchester United and England’s former right-back said: “If it was anybody else, I’d say no.
“But Mount is such a pivotal figure for Gareth, it wouldn’t be a massive shock if he played. I would say it’s 70/30 against (him playing).
“It doesn’t feel right. Having not played in the last game then not trained for eight, nine days with the team.
“It doesn’t feel right. Something doesn’t feel right. For the rest of the players: ‘Oh, by the way, this lad’s not trained for ten days, in he comes.’
“There is no way he’s going to come in on the morning of the game doing set-pieces and then play.”
Mount in or out?
With England’s next potential opponents being France, Germany, Portugal or Hungary, Southgate can’t take risks with his line-up.
Even if that does mean leaving Mount out, who has been a pillar of his set-up for some time.
Thankfully for the Three Lions, they have other talented individuals who can plug the gaps.
Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka both gave a good account of themselves in the 1-0 win against the Czech Republic last night.
Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford both came off the bench, while Phil Foden was left out of the squad to avoid a second yellow card in the competition.
Yesterday’s victory proved England can cope without Mount, although that opinion may change in the face of a side such as France.
