Gareth Southgate, the manager of England, has acknowledged that Harry Maguire might be required to make a choice over his future with Manchester United.
Of course, it assumes that Maguire intends to stay with the England team going ahead, as Southgate is unable to guarantee playing time to a player who is not a regular for his club.
At the international level, Southgate has continuously supported Maguire and displayed a great deal of confidence in the center-back. Maguire has additionally excelled for his nation, rarely failing the Three Lions.
Southgate told talkSPORT, “We’re not in a world where we’re snuggling. “Professional football is a hard world.
“Given that Varane and Martinez are there, that doesn’t surprise me. They will always sign top players, therefore you will face challenges. If you’re Man United, you want strong backup since you suffer injuries, the Champions League is available to you, and you want to compete for the Premier League. They will feel at ease with Harry remaining in the group as a backup. He will need to decide whether he wants to play regular football elsewhere if he is cut from the team. The best athletes want weekly games.
The performance of players at other clubs will determine this. I can never assure a player that they will be selected. He and John Stones have been a fantastic pairing for us, but moving forward, it will be challenging because we have emerging young center-backs who are gaining that experience.
Levi Colwill of Chelsea, Taylor Harwood-Bellis of Man City, and Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace were mentioned by Southgate as possible competitors for Maguire’s spot in the England team.
He said, “We went there to get to know the players better. “I think Colwill and Harwood-Bellis were both excellent. One Championship player is Levi from Brighton.
“Can [Colwill] now make Chelsea’s starting lineup? He plays the game really well. We need that competition, and Marc Guehi’s emergence is interesting.
Last season, the center-back made 31 club appearances. Only eight of those had Premier League debuts.
If Maguire stays at United, he’ll probably just play a small number of minutes in front of Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane, and Victor Lindelof. possibly Jonny Evans as well.