Harry Maguire has against all odds finally found favour. The 30-year-old has received England call-up despite enduring poor playing times at Old Trafford.
Gareth Southgate has defended his decision to select the ex-United skipper in his latest England squad.
Maguire has been shunted even further down Erik ten Hag’s pecking order this season. He is yet to play a single minute of competitive action this campaign.
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The defender’s chances of resurrecting his club career have been boosted lately. This is following the injuries to Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw. The former Leicester City defender previously turned down a move to West Ham earlier this summer.
However, Maguire’s inclusion could be due to injuries in the squad rather than Southgate’s enduring loyalty.
Southgate had retained Maguire and Kalvin Phillips who is also yet to feature for his club this term. According to Southgate’s explanation: ‘With Harry Maguire, we’ve lost a lot of experienced players in terms of caps at centre-half. So we’re giving some less experienced players to come in to the squad.
‘But unfortunately it looks like Tyrone [Mings] is out for most of the season, John Stones is out for this camp, Eric Dier hasn’t appeared in Tottenham’s squad.
‘So if I’m looking at all the players we’ve given caps to in the last few years, Conor Coady is also out and playing in the Championship now.
‘So there is a space there and I think for these two games it’s important we have some experience in that area of the pitch.
‘Clearly with Harry and with Kalvin Phillips it’s far from ideal that they’re not playing football but, similarly with Kalvin, I think Declan Rice was the only English player to start at the weekend as a single pivot.