Gareth Southgate's England rebuild is almost complete – only one issue remains

The beauty of Gareth Southgate’s three-year reign as manager has been the speed of progress.

He picked up the pieces after the Euro 2016 humiliation and, since then, it has been an upward trajectory which has taken England to the World Cup semi finals and to being Euro 2020 contenders.

If there has been a weakness in the team then someone has stepped up to fill it like Harry Maguire at centre-half or Jordan Pickford in goal, while Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane have emerged as world class talents up front.

They all shone against Bulgaria, Kane getting a hat trick, Sterling was on target and England made light work of Bulgaria to make it three straight wins and keep them nicely on track to reach their own European Championship next summer.

But if there is one area of concern, where England are still lacking, then it has to be in central midfield as, no matter what formation Southgate plays, there are still big question marks.

It was a year ago this weekend that Southgate lamented the lack of a Paul Gascoigne to give England some creativity after being given a midfield masterclass by Thiago Alcantara, Sergio Busquets and Saul Niguez when Spain won at Wembley.

Twelve months later, England are still looking for that player to step out of the shadows.

Jordan Henderson is arguably the only player to have one of those midfield slots nailed down and, after helping Liverpool win the European Cup, no-one should doubt his pedigree.

But it is not about Henderson. It is about that player who can provide the vision, the through ball and also the shield who can protect the back four but also not give the ball away.

Declan Rice has shown huge promise as the anchorman and was efficient against Bulgaria while Ross Barkley made some good dribbles and surging runs from midfield but there will be far bigger tests ahead.

Harry Winks is going from strength to strength for Tottenham and can play that role. Mason Mount has been outstanding since stepping up for Chelsea and in training after joining up with England’s senior squad.

James Maddison certainly does not lack the confidence to fill the role while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was showing the sort of drive and power from midfield before his injury in April 2018 to leave Southgate convinced he would have been in his World Cup starting XI.

But while England are settled in every other department, the midfield remains the one area of concern. Southgate needs players to step up and seize their opportunity if they are to compete with France, Spain, Holland and Germany next summer.

After all, it was in midfield where England got overrun against Croatia in the World Cup semi final as they had no-one to match the class or pedigree of Luka Modric.

It will be difficult to fill that sort of void in just nine months ahead of Euro 2020, but Southgate did acknowledge the issue while also insisting there are solutions.

“We’ve got strength in depth, real competition, we’re fascinated to see who’s going to impress, who’s going to nail those places down,” said Southgate.

“[Harry] Winks as well, Ox [Oxlade-Chamberlain] has come back. He has the athleticism to work for the team but also has attacking power. So, it’s another exciting option for us to have.

“When you consider that a couple of years back, we were looking at the midfield thinking, ‘OK, which direction are we heading?’ I think changing to a three has helped with those options.

“They all have different attributes and they can all add to the game in different ways. But it means that we’ve got creative players that has obviously been a question for a long time. We just have to get the balance right.

“There’s Phil Foden as well, I think. There are different profiles of players that come through our academies, and some that have been playing number 10, certainly earlier in their careers, or wingers: [Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain] Ox, [Ross] Barkley that are giving us different opportunities.

“So it is – I mean, we’ve got Ruben [Loftus-Cheek] as well who I think is out injured, so there are lots of options.”

Kane scored a brilliant hat trick to take him past Sir Geoff Hurst while Sterling scored and assisted but, actually, they did not get too much service from midfield.

Until England find the right formula and a settled midfield threesome, they will continue to rely perhaps too heavily on their strikers and come undone against the very best opposition.