‘A complicated decision’: Southgate faces Maguire quandary for England

Gareth Southgate has said he faces a “complicated decision” over whether to keep faith with Harry Maguire for England after the defender’s struggles at club level and hinted he has a lack of experienced replacements to choose from.

The Manchester United centre-back did not feature in England’s friendly win over Switzerland on Saturday despite Southgate defending his inclusion in the squad last week after a poor spell of form at Old Trafford. Maguire is in contention to start against Ivory Coast on Tuesday night in what would be his 42nd cap for the senior side having been an ever-present during England’s qualification campaign.

Asked if Maguire was still one of the best players at his disposal given his recent loss of form, Southgate insisted the former Leicester defender still has plenty of credit left in the bank with England but cannot be assured of his place.

“He got us to a World Cup semi-final and the European Championship final so there’s no doubt he’s more than capable of playing at the highest level,” said Southgate. “He was very good for us in the autumn and the club are in a difficult moment. There could be any number of reasons for that. But that doesn’t mean that players can be poor for a couple of years and then still find their way in and sometimes it depends on competition for positions.

“We’ve obviously left some forward players out who haven’t been in good form. But there’s direct replacements, experienced replacements for those players. So as I say, it is a complicated decision.”

With Southgate expected to omit Harry Kane against Ivory Coast, the England manager refused to confirm who would take the captain’s armband from the Tottenham forward at Wembley. The vice-captain, Jordan Henderson, played 90