Controversial pundit signs up with ITV for Euro 2020 coverage

A controversial pundit signs up with ITV, according to reports, for their upcoming Euro 2020 coverage which will air later this summer.

Graeme Souness has been snapped up by the broadcaster to become part of their punditry team for this summer’s tournament, with a full list of pundits expected to be announced soon.

The 67-year-old regularly appears on Sky Sports to provide analysis on Premier League games – so will only be temporarily joining ITV Sport before heading back to Sky next season.

As reported by the Daily Mail, the no-nonsense talking Scotsman will link up with them for the entirety of the delayed Euro 2020 which starts on the 11th of June with Turkey’s Group A clash against Italy at Stadio Olimpico.

And the tournament finishes on the 11th of July at Wembley Stadium, with both ITV and BBC broadcasting the final live on terrestrial television.

Though the fixtures will be shared out between ITV and BBC, the former will be showing England’s last two group games against Scotland and Czech Republic.

Unlucky for some fans planning on tuning in, it will be ITV that have first pick of the semi-finals, with viewers to be seeing plenty of Souness’ straight-talking views and fiery opinions.

It remains to be seen what other pundits Souness will be working alongside, though you can expect him to be part of a star-studded team, maybe even some usual faces swapping the BBC for ITV.

Much of the England talk right now is on Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, and it remains to be seen whether he can get back into Gareth Southgate’s side this summer.

Despite his match-winning strike against Aston Villa on Saturday, Souness said: “He has a place in the [Liverpool] team, predominantly to supply telling passes, telling crosses and he’s the best right-back in the country at doing that.

“Where he is vulnerable, especially this year, he’s not defending well, he’s not the same lad that we’ve seen the last two seasons, for whatever reason.

“He’s not got the comfort blanket of arguably the best centre-back [Virgil van Dijk] around playing next to him.

“He’s proved to be vulnerable this year. I think Gareth Southgate is in a difficult position with him.

“He sees [Kyle] Walker as his number one. If you’re going to play four [at the back] all the time, these are games that you can’t have one bad night, it can cost you everything.

“You’ve got to go for reliability, people who make the fewest mistakes and defensively that’s not Trent Alexander-Arnold this year.

“If you’d asked me this question 12 months ago, I’m saying ‘take him but now I’m not sure he’ll get on the plane.”

🗣”He proved to be vulnerable this year, I’m not sure he will get on the plane.”

Graeme Souness says Liverpool’s Trent Alexander Arnold is the best attacking full-back in the country but says his defensive aspect have not been strong enough this season pic.twitter.com/eQmQN8Phl5

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) April 10, 2021

Staying on the subject of Liverpool, Souness delved into the problem his former club must solve, saying: “The game against Arsenal they were convincing but Arsenal are 11th in the table right now. Hard to gauge exactly where they are.

“In midweek I think they were found out against a very good, not great, but very good Real Madrid team. They looked a good team on the night anyway.

“And I think in the big games, that old saying, you’ve got to have your best players in the big games. I think the two young centre-backs were found out. When you’re playing Real Madrid you want your rock solid, tried and tested centre-backs.They just weren’t up to the challenge on the night.

“You have to say that Liverpool this year, yes you can point to injuries and it’s hurt them badly but there’s some people who have not responded, that team have not responded well to not having the big players around them.

“As a manager you look at your dressing room and things are not going well, you see what you’ve got in there, and I think the manager, and it hurts me to say it, you know it hurts me to say it, will be disappointed with certain individuals.

“They’ve not stood up and said look ‘I’m now going to be the main man. I know we’ve got a couple of main men out but I’m going to take his place. I’m going to make all of them believe in me and carry us through the difficult times’.

“I don’t think there’s been enough of that this year.”

As the controversial pundit signs up with ITV for the Euro 2020 coverage, who else do you want to see named? Let us know on our socials!