Harry Maguire situation ‘not ideal’ but Gareth Southgate still rates England man

Gareth Southgate says Harry Maguire’s lack of game time is “not an ideal situation” but the under-fire Manchester United captain retains the England manager’s backing and belief.

The world’s most expensive defender currently finds himself out of favour at Old Trafford, with Erik ten Hag dropping him to the bench after losing the first two matches of the season.

Maguire’s only start since then came in the Europa League loss to Real Sociedad and last Thursday he made an 89th-minute appearance against Sheriff Tiraspol in the competition.

Southgate included the 29-year-old in his England squad earlier that day despite his lack of action – one of several similar issues he is dealing with, which he likened to a situation England rugby coach Eddie Jones managed.

Reigning Gallagher Premiership champions Saracens were relegated at the end of the 2019-20 season following salary-cap breaches, meaning a number of key international players had to ply their trade in the second tier.

“I’ve just been reading Eddie Jones’ book and he had a similar situation with the Saracens players,” Southgate said.

“Even on reflection, he felt they were his best players and although they were undercooked, they were still going to be better than players that weren’t at the level.

“So I don’t think there are many players that aren’t here now that are at the level yet to go in and play.

“Look, clearly, it’s not an ideal situation. You want your best players playing regularly so that they’re physically in a good place and mentally in a good place.

“But he is an important player for us. I think it’s important to back our best players.

“The squad we’ve picked, there are a fair number of players you could argue we could have left out at this point but I think