Harry Maguire Opens Up About England Squad Omission

Harry Maguire has lifted the lid on the moment his international world briefly stopped.

Left out of Thomas Tuchel’s latest England squad, the Manchester United defender revealed on The Rest is Football podcast that the news came not in a meeting room, not via a phone call from an assistant, but on a FaceTime screen.

Tuchel, he explained, rang every player individually.

“It was quite an awkward call,” Maguire admitted. He had first received a text asking if he was free to speak at around 4pm. Then came the video call, and with it the confirmation he had been dreading.

“It is quite a unique way of doing it and it must be quite hard because he can see everyone's reactions,” Maguire said. On this occasion, the reaction was raw and immediate. “I said straightaway I was really disappointed. I thought I did enough to be in the squad and thought I could have helped and had a part to play on and off the pitch.”

Tuchel, according to Maguire, did not dress the decision up. “He said he can't give me an excuse but he had gone with the four lads who got him through the autumn.”

For a player with 66 caps, who has lived every high and low of recent England tournaments, it cut deep.

“It was tough to take,” he admitted. The timing made it worse. Maguire had felt the direction of travel was finally turning back in his favour. “I did think I would be in the squad after being selected for the March camp under him for the first time. I did really well in both games and then went back to Manchester United and finished the season really strongly.”

The numbers back up the sense of frustration: a strong finish at club level, a solid showing in Tuchel’s first camp, and then the door closed just as it seemed to be opening again.

Yet this is not a player sulking on the outside. Maguire has stayed close to the heartbeat of the dressing room. He remains in contact with senior figures such as Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Jordan Pickford, checking in, offering support, keeping himself emotionally invested even while physically absent.

The setback has not pushed him towards an international retirement, either. If anything, it has stiffened his resolve.

“I don't think I would retire from England. I still feel I have something to offer,” he said. “There will be a time and a place where I don't deserve to get picked but I probably still wouldn't come out and retire. If I got one more cap it would be worth it.”

For now, Tuchel is contracted through to Euro 2028, and Maguire knows he sits on the outside of a defensive group the manager trusts. The message from the England boss was clear: loyalty to the players who carried him through the autumn.

Maguire’s message back is just as clear. He is not done. Not with England, not with the fight, and certainly not with the idea that one more cap – just one – would make every awkward call and every painful omission worth enduring.