Southgate sends ‘clear’ message to shamed England duo Foden and Greenwood

Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood were sent home in disgrace with their England futures in serious doubt.

Manchester United forward Greenwood, 18, and international team mate Foden were fined £1,360 each by Icelandic police after breaking strict quarantine protocols by meeting girls in the team hotel in Reykjavik.

They are also both facing disciplinary action from their clubs who both issued strongly worded statements with Manchester City calling Foden’s behaviour “totally inappropriate.”

England boss Gareth Southgate will be furious with the pair who flew back to Manchester with the rest of the squad travelling on to Denmark.

Foden, 20, and Greenwood are both seen as two of England’s best prospects but now face a potential ban from next month’s Nations League games while Southgate has a history of excluding players for longer if they break rules.

Wayne Rooney and Kyle Walker have both fallen foul of Southgate’s discipline in the past and, while Foden and Greenwood will not be dumped for good, they may find themselves out in the cold.

It could also leave them missing the start of the Premier League season after it was revealed they met with an Icelandic beauty queen and her cousin on Sunday, less than 24 hours after England’s win over Iceland in Denmark.

Greenwood is alleged to have made contact with one of the girls online before flying to Iceland and then met up in the hotel. England were staying on the third floor of the Radisson hotel in a strict quarantine “bubble” while the girls were on the seventh floor.

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The players had actually been given a safety debrief on Sunday to wear masks, not to go each other’s rooms and yet the girls got into the hotel and England staff discovered the breach and stopped them going to breakfast on Monday morning.

Southgate did not get the chance to speak to the properly and did not deliver a full dressing down before they left the camp but the Football Association has launched its own investigation while they will also step up security protocols on future trips. The FA called it a “serious lack of judgement.”

Southgate said: “Everybody has to understand their responsibility. The whole country knows this has been a difficult period for young people and young people are going to make more mistakes than older people. Everybody has a responsibility with this virus to play their part.

“That is why we have taken the decision that we have. We have operated an incredible procedure, really, for 10 days to keep all the players together. They have been tested four times; we have operated in the hotels we have been in in our own separate areas. We have kept that secure.

“That was important, not only for our own well-being, but to get these games played. It has been such a massive operation across Europe. I think the responsibilities are very clear.

“I’m very clear with them and I will be very clear with them on my feelings, and how they need to respond to how they need to react.”

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