'We didn't want to stop that' - Southgate explains England U-turn on Mainoo

England manager Gareth Southgate has said he will not hesitate to give Manchester United youngster Kobbie Mainoo his debut in either of their upcoming friendlies against Brazil or Belgium.

The Three Lions face Brazil at Wembley this evening and lock horns with Belgium at the same venue on Tuesday. The two friendlies mark their final outings ahead of Southgate naming his squad for this summer's European Championship in Germany.

Mainoo, who has excelled for United this season, was a late addition to the squad, being parachuted into the first team as recently as Tuesday. He was initially left out of the squad Southgate selected a little over a week ago, with it confirmed he would earn his first Under-21s call-up instead.

However, Southgate has confirmed a window of opportunity opened up for him to add the Stockport-born midfielder to the first-team squad, praising the links between the senior squad and the youth teams at St George's Park.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday evening, Southgate said: "We've been blessed with St George's Park being built. This week some of our Under-17s have come over to work with us, our Under-21s were there.

"You get a club feel so hopefully that transition is as straightforward as possible because the players have a better chance of performing at their best level if they feel comfortable off the pitch.

"With Kobbie, I said last week we were conscious of his development about how quickly we should go. You need to try make the right steps at the right time with young players.

"But opportunity presented itself and for us, he was the next player in. We didn't want to stop that from happening.

"As we thought, he's fitted in brilliantly. His level of training has been excellent – we