No Manchester United players were part of Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
Marcus Rashford did start both games but he is currently on loan at Aston Villa and that is where he could stay with the Red Devils keen to offload him once the transfer window opens.
One United player the German had considered calling up was Harry Maguire, who had missed all club games in March due to a calf injury.
But as relayed by The Peoples Person, he is on course to be back for the game against Nottingham Forest on April 1. And Tuchel did not call the centre-back up for two reasons.
Maguire’s fitness
His fitness was an issue as well as was his shift to playing in a back three system at United under Ruben Amorim while Tuchel prefers a back four.
While the former United skipper did miss out, Tuchel was quick to praise the 64-cap England ace’s professionalism, reiterating how important he is to the national team cause.
“I spoke to everyone who was not nominated and (Maguire) was on the (long) list,” the head coach was quoted as saying. “I spoke to all of them to give them my direct feedback, why this is. 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, so two right-footers in central defence and the rest was left-footers in central defence.
“Yeah, but the second reason was that he was not fit when we did the nomination. It was presumed that he can play but I didn’t want to take the risk to nominate a player in which we have to take care in the first training, second training and constantly need to assess if he can do full training session, half training session.
Tuchel blames Amorim
“We did the same with Reece James and only for the feedback that he can do every session full was the reason that we brought him into camp.
“Harry knows that. It’s not so easy at the moment for him in the club. He plays in a back three on top of it but, listen, he’s a top professional, he’s very important, he was very important for England. Maguire took it unbelievably well. He wrote me messages to wish us good luck, so you see what a person he is, a top guy. He will always be in contention.”
Ever since United’s shift to a back three, Maguire has fared well and having fast-paced defenders to cover him on either side does suit the ex-Leicester City star due to his slow pace.
Whether this shift ultimately ends up costing him a place in the Three Lions squad moving forward remains to be seen.
As for the his club future, there have been murmurs that despite a contract extension, INEOS want him gone as they target Jarrad Branthwaite of Everton.
Feature image Alex Pantling via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
