Thomas Tuchel has explained why he left Manchester United defender Harry Maguire out of his England squad.
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Tuchel left out Maguire
The new Three Lions boss has called up Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi, Levi Colwill, and the uncapped duo of Dan Burn and Jarell Quansah.
However, Tuchel omitted the 32-year-old from the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
Tuchel reasoned that Maguire’s fitness was a factor in his decision, adding that Guehi and Konsa were in better form.
“I spoke to all of them who were not on the list to give my direct feedback on my decision,” Tuchel said.
“It was a close decision. 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.”
“The second reason was that he [Maguire] 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 [with], and in the first training or second training and 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 full was the reason we brought him in to camp. Harry knows that.”
Maguire took the omission well
Maguire has been a regular in the England national team since 2018.
However, he has not played since March 2 due to a calf problem.
Tuchel insisted that Maguire would remain in contention for future England squads.
“It’s not so easy for him at the club at the moment,” he said. “He plays in a back three on top of it but he’s a top professional and he’s very important for England.”
The German coach added that the veteran defender took the omission well and wished the team good luck.
“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,” Tuchel added.
