A raft of England players could've been forced to delay their arrivals at the Three Lions' training camp ahead of Euro 2024 this summer because of the Champions League final on June 1

Gareth Southgate's preparations will get easier after both Arsenal and Manchester City crashed out of the Champions League.

England boss Southgate will follow a similar pattern to previous tournaments by giving his players a week off after the final Premier League game of the season on Sunday, May 19. But the Champions League final is on Saturday, June 1, and the likes of City stars Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and John Stones plus Arsenal's Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale are no longer involved.‌

England will definitely have either Harry Kane or Jude Bellingham in the final as Bayern Munich meet Real Madrid in the semi-final. But Southgate's worst nightmare was being without a raft of players for his Euro preparations and the friendlies with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland on June 3 and 7 respectively.

Those who are not involved in the FA Cup final or any other European games will join up during the week starting May 27. Players in the FA Cup final on May 25 will still get a week's break and realistically will not be involved in England's first friendly.

Kane and Bellingham are each hoping to be the latecomer to England's camp, with their respective clubs just two games away from the final at Wembley.

England captain Kane has already sent Bellingham a message ahead of their semi-final clashes, saying after Bayern eliminated Arsenal on Wednesday: "Jude has had a fantastic season, he's a top player, so I'm really happy for him, but it will be another war against his team.

"But that's the experiences that we both went abroad to try to achieve, to play in these big nights in the Champions League to play in these big semi-finals.‌ It will be one to enjoy and I’m sure there will be a lot of English fans watching both of us. We have to focus on ourselves.

"Of course, I'll say hello but once we're on the pitch, it's business. With Wembley being our national stadium, it's extra motivation there for us but there are two games ahead of us before that, which are going to be really tough so we have to focus on that."

Kane, 30, added to Sky Germany: "Real Madrid is of course a big club with an impressive history in the Champions League. It will be a difficult semi-final for us, but that's what the semi-finals of the Champions League are about: playing against the biggest clubs. We will now enjoy this victory and then prepare for the games."