Harry Maguire has received the full support of England manager Gareth Southgate ahead of the Nations League clash against Italy.
The England centre-back has been going through a rough phase with Manchester United. Erik ten Hag has favoured Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez ahead of the 29-year-old this season.
Both the defenders have justified the manager’s decision by putting in a fine display as the club has won their last four games in the Premier League. However, Maguire has been at the wrong end of this decision as his form performance has pushed him to the bench.
This will be the first chance for Maguire to move over June’s disastrous start to the competition when Southgate had admitted that he made mistakes.
Given that the World Cup is coming up at the end of November, Southgate argued that the situation could not last forever. England will play Germany at Wembley on Monday after their match against Italy, and then they will play Iran in their opening World Cup match.
As reported by the Sun, the England manager has backed the United defender by saying:
“He is our most dominant aerial centre-back. You want your best players playing regularly so that they’re physically in a good place and mentally in a good place. But he is an important player for us. I think it’s important to back our best players.”
“I haven’t felt the need to speak to him any differently to the rest of the players. I try and speak individually with them all. That’s been a bit more complicated this time because we’ve got 28 players so I’m getting there.”
For the past five years, Maguire has been Southgate’s top choice, regardless of his poor form at the club level. The 29-year-old has rarely carried that form to the International stages and ahs looked confident under the English manager.
Maguire must, of course, honour his coach’s trust by giving a strong performance in Milan and a similarly carefree performance against Germany on Monday at Wembley. Any degree of doubt will only build up more commotion before playing the prestigious competition in Qatar.
