Gary Lineker's Match of the Day host replacement has been 'practising' for BBC role

Jermaine Jenas, a regular pundit on Match of the Day, has been 'practising' to take over from Gary Lineker as the show's host.

Lineker, who has been hosting the BBC's top football show since 1999, hinted that his time is "nearly up", even suggesting Jenas could be his successor. The England legend, now 63, was briefly taken off air by the BBC in 2023 for criticising the Conservative government but was brought back after his colleagues staged a mass walkout.

Jenas, the former Tottenham and England midfielder, revealed on That Peter Crouch Podcast that he's well-prepared to step into Lineker's shoes to present the Premier League highlights when the time comes. He said: "When I do Match of the Day, there used to be a woman called Michelle who used to do Gary's autocue. So when Gary was in makeup I used to go run and jump in the seat and be like 'look Michelle let's do the autocue'.

"She was like 'go on quick do it' and we'd just run through the whole show. I was just practising and that wasn't me going 'oh I want to do Gary's job'.

"It was me just thinking 'right, what's it like in this seat, for him, to present', because I wanted to know what it felt like. She'd kind of go 'ah yeah you've messed up there', we'd have a laugh with it. Then he'd come and go 'get out the seat'.

"I think it was more I knew I didn't just want to be a pundit my whole life, as much as I love it."

Jenas has already hosted the show when he filled in during January for the FA Cup highlights, reports the Daily Star. He's also the face of The One Show on BBC and even presented the draw for the World Cup in 2022.

When Jenas was on MOTD last year, Jenas asked Lineker his opinion on an incident. Lineker made a joke, saying: "You want this job? " Jenas