Despite struggles in his club career at Manchester United, manager Gareth Southgate says Harry Maguire will continue to start for England at the international level.
After losing his starting spot at Old Trafford at the beginning of the season, Maguire was downgraded to the fourth or fifth choice center-back. The defender was almost traded to West Ham for £30 million in the summer, but the deal failed when Manchester United refused to accept compensation.
The 30-year-old lost his United captaincy as a result of his sparse playing, and he started the current campaign behind Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, and Victor Lindelof. Maguire was however still on the team when Southgate’s England lineup was released in late August.
He played the entire 90 minutes of Saturday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine alongside the exceptional Marc Guehi. Scotland and England will clash in a friendly on Tuesday. There are games against Australia, Italy, Malta, and North Macedonia during the rest of 2023.
“He’s a player with a lot of experience, and he looked excellent in practice. Harry knows where our support is, Southgate said of Maguire following the Ukraine game.
He is aware of the necessity to continue giving his all for the team, and according to a teammate, “given what’s happening with their squad’s injuries over the next few weeks, he may well have a lot more minutes for [Manchester United] as well.”
Varane suffered an injury while United was defeating Nottingham Forest most recently. Martinez missed Argentina’s match against Ecuador in the World Cup qualifying round because he was replaced early against Arsenal. Luke Shaw, who played center-back sparingly last season, has also been missing. Due to illness, Lindelof was removed from the Arsenal game before it ended.
It meant that Maguire and Jonny Evans finished the Arsenal defeat, renewing their prior partnership from the previous campaign at Leicester.
