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Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has claimed that England’s shock 0-1 loss to Iceland demonstrates how important Harry Maguire is to the national team.
The centre back was originally called up to the preliminary Euro 2024 squad but did not make the final cut due to injury problems.
The England defender last played in April in a disappointing home draw with Burnley.
Maguire recovered from a horrendous 2022/23 season on a personal level where he was almost sold to West Ham United last summer.
The 31 year old played 31 games, scoring four goals including in the FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City.
Speaking on Channel 4 (via The Daily Mail) after England’s embarrassing friendly defeat to Iceland last night, Rooney spoke out on what a huge miss the former United captain will be.
“Tonight the back line were a little bit disjointed at times, and that’s through lack of experience,” he said.
“That’s something I’m sure Gareth and the coaches will be showing them, you have to get that right because we’re so excited by the attacking players we’ve got, they have to be backed up by the back line and being aggressive.”
Rooney pinpointed the absence of one player as the reason for this.
“I think tonight actually shows the importance of Harry Maguire to this England team and what a big loss he is to this squad.”
The central defender has had his fair share of critics but he has been used continuously by Southgate during his time as England manager.
Since Southgate became manager in 2016, Maguire has been capped 67 times, scoring seven times and he has been heavily involved in England’s run to the World Cup semi-final in 2018 and their penalty shootout loss to Italy in the final of Euro 2020, even firing in a penalty in the shootout.
Speaking on the decision to leave out the defender the manager claimed, “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.”
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