England manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed Harry Maguire was fit enough to have made his first Three Lions squad, but he decided not to pick the Manchester United star
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Harry Maguire
Thomas Tuchel did not pick Harry Maguire in his first England squad
(Image: Michael Regan/The FA via Getty Images)
Harry Maguire has been left fighting for his England future. Thomas Tuchel has dropped a bombshell by admitting he AXED Maguire for his first England squad rather than classing him as not being fit enough to report up.
That has left Maguire knowing he is now facing a huge doubt over whether he will be part of England’s plans for next year’s World Cup. Tuchel warned that it is “not easy” for Maguire at Manchester United as he is playing in a back three formation and Ruben Amorim’s side are struggling for form.
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Maguire has been nursing a calf injury but Tuchel made it clear that was not the first reason for his exclusion from the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia. Tuchel said Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa are both currently ahead of the United centre half who was such a part of the England set-up under Gareth Southgate.
Maguire, who has won 64 caps, did not go to last summer’s Euros because of a lack of fitness and now could be facing World Cup heartbreak. Tuchel said: “It was a close decision.
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“We chose Marc Guehi 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. It’s not so easy for him at the club at the moment. He plays in a back three on top of it.
“The second reason was that he was not fit when we did the nomination. It was presumed that he can play.
“But we didn’t want to nominate a player who we had to take a risk on and in the first training or second training we constantly need to assess whether he can do full training session or half training session.
Thomas Tuchel on the sideline at Wembley
Tuchel has warned that it is “not easy” for Maguire to force his way back into the squad
“We did the same with Reece James and only because of the feedback that he could do every session full was the reason we brought him in to camp. Harry knows that.”
Tuchel did leave the door open for Maguire in the future and said he took the decision “unbelievably well” while he also sent good luck messages to the manager before the games.
Tuchel added: “But he’s a top professional and he’s very important for England. He took it unbelievably well. I spoke to all of them who were not on the list to give my direct feedback on my decision.
“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.”
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