Southgate has no regrets over handling of Maguire and is ready to call him up
Gareth Southgate has no regrets over his handling of Harry Maguire’s position in the England team and expects the defender to be back for their tripleheader in October.
Maguire will not play against Iceland on Saturday after Southgate withdrew him from the squad last week, a Greek court having convicted him on four counts following a fracas outside a bar in Mykonos. He maintains his innocence and has since been granted a full retrial, meaning he remains innocent in the eyes of the law. The Manchester United player had been named in Southgate’s selection on the day of his trial, only to be taken out hours later when the verdict was handed down.
“No, not at all,” Southgate said when asked whether he felt any embarrassment at calling up Maguire. “Everybody is now aware how complex this case was, which wasn’t as it was initially reported in any way.
“I felt it important to support our player, so I always knew the timing of the case was going to mean we would have to change something in a relatively short period. But we had a squad to pick of 25 and lots of things to prepare for, so we couldn’t delay just for one situation.
“That ended up being as it was. I have to live with that. It didn’t bother me, the reaction to it, I knew that would come. But the chain of events … I think would be the same if I did it again.”
Southgate confirmed he had been in contact with Maguire and that the centre-back would be in consideration when England face Wales, Belgium and Denmark next month. “It has clearly been a really difficult period for him and the last few days have been very important for him to relax, get away from all the attention and mentally get a rest. I think he needed that switch-off; he can go back to his club and, absolutely, we would look to involve him in October.”
The England captain, Harry Kane, said he expected to work alongside Maguire in those games and said his teammate had coped with the situation well. “I spoke to ‘H’ a couple of days after everything had happened to see if he needed any help,” he said. “He was fine and said it was a crazy few days. He said he would explain to me when he was in the [September] camp but that is not the case. But the lads who are close to him said he is in a good place.”
Kane’s own preparations have been bumpy given that, midway through a close-season holiday to the Bahamas, the country was added to the British government’s Covid-19 quarantine list.
With direct flights unavailable he was unable to return home in time to avoid 14 days of self-isolation but was able to join England’s squad this week, feeling the extended break may have been beneficial.
“The mental and physical rest is just as important as coming back and having a full pre-season,” he said. “We’ve got a full-on schedule until July, hopefully, if we go all the way in the Euros. It was a balance and logistically it wasn’t an easy decision or place to get back from.
“Looking back now I don’t think it’s done me any harm having that extra week away. I guess time will tell but I’m ready for the season, I’m feeling excited for the season, I’m feeling as good as I have done for a while.”
Kane admitted such a packed international schedule was “not ideal” in conjunction with the domestic calendar but said England’s players were happy to adapt. He described himself as “ready to go for the next two or three years”, having recovered from the hamstring tear sustained on New Year’s Day and said England had learned the lessons from their infamous defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.
“That was a tough night for me personally, and as a team and a nation,” he said. “But any situation in your career you can only learn from and try to gain positives from, and I feel like we’ve done that.”