Harry Maguire was omitted from the England squad primarily on the grounds of form, Thomas Tuchel has said. It had been assumed the Manchester United defender was not involved for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia because of injury.
Maguire has not played since 2 March because of a calf problem and Tuchel said the fitness of the player had been a factor. But the head coach made plain that he considered Maguire to be behind Ezri Konsa and Marc Guéhi in the pecking order for right-footed centre-halves.
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Tuchel called up the left-footers Dan Burn and Levi Colwill, plus a fifth centre-back in Jarell Quansah, who favours his right. Guéhi is also comfortable on the left of a central pair. Tuchel said Maguire had not been helped by United’s struggles this season or Ruben Amorim’s preference for a back three. Tuchel played a four against Albania and Latvia.
“I spoke to all of the players who were not on the list to give my direct feedback on my decision,” Tuchel said, when asked about Maguire. “It was a close decision. We chose Marc Guéhi and Ezri Konsa. At the moment, I think they are a little bit in a better rhythm and deserve to be with us. Two right-footers in central defence and the rest were left-footers in the centre of defence.
“The second reason was that Harry was not fit when we did the nomination. It was presumed that he can play but I didn’t want to take the risk to nominate the player which we then have to take care [with] … constantly need to assess whether he can do a full training session or half training session. We did the same with Reece James and only because of the feedback that he could do every session in full was the reason we brought him into camp.
“Harry knows that. It’s not so easy for him at the club at the moment. He plays in a back three on top of it but he’s a top professional and he’s very important for England. He took it unbelievably well. He wrote me messages to wish us good luck and you see what a person he is. He is a top guy and he will always be in contention.”
The Football Association is in talks with the former United sporting director Dan Ashworth over a return in a senior management role. Ashworth, sacked by United in December after only five months, was at the FA between 2012 and 2018, rising to oversee all football operations at St George’s Park. The FA’s pursuit of Ashworth was first reported by the Telegraph. The governing body declined to comment.
