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"Looks like I don't have to worry about not seeing you all summer after all," Maguire said as the Manchester United squad finally began breaking up for international duty and their short offseason.

"We'll be stuck together with England again."

Ling laughed.

After spending an entire season sharing the same dressing room at Carrington, Maguire was apparently relieved that several more weeks at St George's Park awaited them.

The club season might have ended, but international football came next.

For Ling, that meant returning to an England setup he already knew extremely well.

He had played alongside most of the current squad through previous international windows, and no longer needed any introduction to the rhythms of international football.

What made this summer different was the tournament waiting at the end of the preparation.

Euro 2020.

England had gone into the 2018 World Cup with relatively modest expectations and reached the semifinal.

Two years later, the atmosphere around the squad was very different.

Several of the young players from Russia had matured into leading figures at major clubs, while others had emerged since then to give Southgate considerably greater depth.

Ling arrived in perhaps the best form of anyone in Europe.

He had just finished another record-breaking Premier League campaign, won the FA Cup, scored twenty-three Champions League goals, and put four past Paris Saint-Germain in the final as United completed their historic European three-peat.

The problem for Southgate was no longer whether Ling belonged in the team.

It was how to make the most of him without reducing the influence of the other elite attackers England possessed.

Maguire seemed considerably less concerned about tactical complications.

"At least we won't have to play against you for a few weeks."

"You say that every international break."

"And every time I mean it."

Ling smiled and left it there.

There was no need to turn a perfectly normal conversation into one of their endless dressing-room arguments.

John Stones, who was also preparing to join the England camp, had his own reasons for envying Maguire.

Playing alongside Ling internationally was one thing; having him at club level every week was another.

United's defenders had spent several seasons benefiting from an attack capable of rescuing matches that might otherwise have slipped away, while City had so often found themselves trying to contain that same player instead.

Unfortunately for Stones, Manchester United already had more than enough center-backs, and his qualities remained particularly well suited to Guardiola's possession-heavy system anyway.

...

Ling reported to St George's Park after only a brief period of recovery.

There was none of the awkwardness that came with joining an unfamiliar squad.

He already knew the staff, understood Southgate's terminology, and had played with most of the group often enough that basic combinations did not need to be rebuilt from scratch.

Southgate nevertheless eased him into the opening sessions.

The Champions League final had only recently finished, and there was little value in asking a player coming off such a demanding season to immediately complete another week of high-intensity conditioning.

England's preparation instead focused heavily on shape, timing, and combinations.

Southgate had experimented with different ways of using Ling before, and Euro 2020 gave him even more options.

Harry Kane remained the natural center-forward and captain, but his tendency to drop away from the defensive line actually complemented Ling rather than competing with him.

Whenever Kane moved toward midfield to receive, Ling could attack the channel he vacated, while Sterling or Sancho stretched the opposite side.

At other times, Ling dropped into the space behind Kane and effectively became a No. 10, allowing England to place another direct runner on the wing.

There were even phases in which the two operated as a genuine strike partnership.

None of it was particularly new to the players involved.

Southgate had already used Ling in several roles during previous international windows, and Kane understood his movements well enough that the pair rarely needed long explanations.

During one training exercise, Kane dropped between the lines and received with his back to goal.

Ling waited until the center-back followed him before cutting diagonally through the space behind.

Kane turned and released the pass without needing to look twice, leaving Ling clear enough to finish into the bottom corner.

Steve Holland immediately stopped the drill and pointed toward the movement.

"That's the timing. If Harry comes short and brings the center-back with him, don't arrive too early. Make him choose first, then attack the space he leaves."

Ling jogged back into position while Kane merely nodded.

They had performed variations of the same movement often enough that neither considered it particularly remarkable.

The younger players paid considerably more attention.

...

England still had warm-up matches before the tournament, and Southgate used them primarily to manage fitness and test combinations rather than chase results at all costs.

Ling spent the first one on the bench.

After the amount of football he had played for United, Southgate had already decided there was no reason to use him unless the match demanded it.

England controlled proceedings comfortably without him and secured the victory through the rest of their attacking group, giving Ling a rare opportunity to spend ninety minutes watching rather than carrying another match.

...

The following morning, the coverage naturally focused almost as much on his absence as the result.

📰 BBC Sport: England Continue Euro Preparations as Ling Is Rested

Southgate explained afterward that nothing was wrong with his star forward.

England had already spent monts building around Ling as one of their principal attacking players, and the manager saw no reason to waste minutes simply to prove that point in a warm-up match.

By the second friendly, Ling returned to the lineup.

The difference was immediate.

England's attack became quicker around the penalty area because opponents could no longer concentrate solely on Kane.

If the center-backs followed Kane when he dropped, Ling attacked the space behind them; if they stayed deep, Kane could turn and create from between the lines.

Sterling and Sancho repeatedly benefited from the attention the pair demanded centrally.

Ling ended the match with a hat-trick, while England's other attacking players added goals of their own in a comfortable victory.

Nobody inside the squad treated the result as evidence that the European Championship would be easy.

Warm-up matches were useful but tournament football was different.

...

The greatest challenge Southgate faced was deciding how aggressive England should become once the competition began.

Their squad contained enough attacking talent to overwhelm weaker opponents, but major tournaments were rarely won simply by putting every talented forward on the pitch at once.

Balance mattered, particularly against teams capable of punishing turnovers.

During another session, Southgate stopped play after England's defensive shape had been dragged too far toward one side.

"Look at the distance between you. The man on the ball doesn't get to decide where our entire team moves. If everyone follows him, the far side opens completely."

He moved several players back into position before restarting.

The attacking corrections were equally direct.

"When we recover possession, don't spend forever moving sideways. If the forward pass is available, play it. We have Ling, Raheem, Jadon, Marcus—there's enough speed ahead of you that you don't need six passes before attacking."

Ling appreciated the difference from club football.

Mourinho's United had been built over several seasons of daily work.

Every player knew the pressing triggers, defensive distances, and preferred transition routes almost instinctively.

International football offered nothing close to that amount of preparation time.

Southgate therefore needed principles simple enough to survive long periods between camps without becoming predictable.

Ling had played for England enough match to understand that limitation.

He did not expect the national team to reproduce United's football, nor did he need the entire structure rebuilt around him from the beginning every time they met.

His responsibility was to fit his strengths into what England already did well.

...

One evening, several players remained in the dining area after the main meal while conversation drifted toward the tournament.

Nobody needed to ask whether England intended to compete seriously for the trophy.

Maguire eventually brought up the subject anyway.

"World Cup semifinal last time. What counts as a good Euros now?"

Kane considered the question before answering that they had reached the point where merely producing a respectable run should no longer satisfy them.

England possessed enough quality to enter the tournament believing they could win it, even if several other countries had equally strong claims.

Ling agreed.

There was little purpose in pretending otherwise simply because cautious answers sounded safer in interviews.

France had an exceptional squad, Portugal were defending champions, Belgium remained dangerous, and Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands could hardly be dismissed.

England did not need to call themselves favorites to believe they belonged in that group.

The opportunity was even greater because so much of their route would run through Wembley.

Their first task, however, was getting through the group.

Croatia.

Scotland.

The Czech Republic.

The Croatia fixture carried an obvious emotional weight for the players who had been in Russia two years earlier.

England had led that World Cup semifinal before losing 2–1 after extra time, and several members of the squad still remembered exactly how it felt to watch Croatia celebrate.

Ling had already played enough international football since then that nobody needed to explain the history to him.

When Croatia appeared on the screen during a tactical meeting, Maguire muttered that England owed them one.

Ling agreed with the sentiment, though he cared more about the three points than any revenge narrative.

A tournament group did not award extra credit for settling old scores.

Scotland would bring a completely different atmosphere, particularly at Wembley, while the Czech Republic possessed enough organization and technical quality to punish anyone who treated the match as routine.

There would be time to think about the knockout rounds later.

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