Harry Maguire will not be at Euro 2024 with England this summer.
The Manchester United defender has been a mainstay in Gareth Southgate’s side over the last few years and was named in the provisional 33-man squad.
However, Maguire will play no part for the Three Lions in Germany after being one of the seven players cut for the tournament.
Jack Grealish and James Maddison were two major omissions and they missed out due to their form last season.
But it was a different reason for Maguire…
Why is Maguire not at Euro 2024?
Maguire has played at every one of England’s major tournaments under Southgate but has failed to recover from a calf injury.
He has not played since April after suffering a muscle issue in training which kept him out of United’s FA Cup final victory over Manchester City.
Maguire’s fitness problems meant he wouldn’t have been available until the Euro 2024 knockout stages at the earliest and Southgate made the difficult decision not to risk him.
Confirming that he was left out of the squad earlier this month due to an injury, the centre-back posted a statement on social media.
He wrote: “I am devastated not to have been selected to play for England at the Euros this summer. Despite my best efforts, I have not been able to overcome an injury to my calf.
“Maybe I pushed myself too hard, to try and make it. Simply, I am absolutely gutted. For me, representing England is the highest honour.
“It means everything to me. If I can’t help the team as a player, I will support them as a fan – along with the rest of the country. Go and win it boys.
“Next, I will return to the supervision of the Manchester United medical team in order to prepare for next season.”
England boss Southgate then explained the difficult decision that he made when considering if he could have risked Maguire’s injury.
“I think we took nine [defenders] in the last couple of tournaments when I looked through, so I think we are the same [depth],” he explained.
“That was part of the reason that, in the end, we couldn’t take Harry Maguire because we would have had to have taken a 10th [defender] and that balance wouldn’t be right. It would have left us short in other areas of the pitch.
“Harry has made some progress but it has been complicated and we definitely wouldn’t have had him in the group stages.
“There were too many hurdles to get through without really being clear about where we might get to.
“Given that we haven’t got a clean bill of health across the rest of the backline as well, the decision became that we needed cover and players that are fit and ready to go from the start.
“It was another really difficult call. You know how I feel about Harry Maguire, what he has done for England and what he has done for me as a manager.”
News Summary:
- Why is Harry Maguire not playing for England at Euro 2024? Man United defender ‘gutted’ to miss out on tournament
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