Harry Maguire has 30 seconds to make his sales pitch for a place in England’s World Cup squad, this being X-Factor week here at St George’s Park.
‘I don’t think I need to sell myself to the manager,’ he says, before accepting the invite. ‘I’m in a position now in my career where it is not so much about myself. I am 33 years old. I am just about the team now. If I play one minute at the World Cup or every game, I will still do everything I can to make sure this country is successful.
‘It’s not about me playing at the World Cup to try and say I am the best defender in the world. I want to be part of a group. I feel I can still play a big part on the pitch, but also off it. So there you go!’
That’s a good answer.
‘Send it (to the manager)!’ jokes Maguire, and he is smiling. He does that a lot during a post-training chat at St George’s, such is the relief to be back inside a building he thought was consigned to memory. After 64 caps and three major tournaments, this is his first call-up under Thomas Tuchel.
‘There was a point when I didn’t think it would come,’ says the Manchester United defender. ‘Probably at the end of last season, when I wasn’t picked in the summer camp. The three (autumn) camps, I’d had a stop-start season to that point with injuries, so I didn’t think, “I should have been selected”. Then the change of manager happened (at United) and that has helped, with the form of the team and the formation we play.’
Harry Maguire is certain he can help England on and off the pitch if he goes to the World Cup
The defender has been rewarded for his good form at Manchester United with his first call-up under Thomas Tuchel
The change of manager, in January, was Ruben Amorim out and Michael Carrick in. Since then, during United’s climb to third in the Premier League, Maguire has been first-choice centre back. Crucially, as part of a back four, not Amorim’s three. Tuchel plays with four.
‘The question mark as soon as you play in a back three is whether you can play in a back four,’ begins Maguire. ‘When you’re playing a back five (three centre backs) and you’re that middle one, automatically people think you’re a little bit older, can’t move as much, and you get protected. Which, you do actually get protected! But I’ve always said I much prefer playing in a back four. I feel like I can play more aggressive, play more on the front foot. That’s a big part of my game.’
It is not just Maguire who has benefited from the changes at Old Trafford. The team has lost only one of 10 matches.
‘The formation must have (made a difference) because the results before weren’t good enough,’ he says. ‘I don’t really have much bad to say about Ruben. I really like Ruben, I think he’s got great ideas. The ideas just didn’t work at Manchester United. I do believe he’ll go on and have an amazing career. It just didn’t click and I think us as players have got to take a lot of responsibility for that as well.’
One upshot of Amorim’s tenure is that United’s players, in a World Cup year, are heading into the summer with relatively low mileage compared to many at rival clubs. Maguire has 15 starts to date, recalled club-mate Kobbie Mainoo just 12. That pair were on a jet ready to leave Manchester for Bournemouth last Thursday when a message from the England boss landed in both of their inboxes.
‘He (Tuchel) sent me a WhatsApp saying, “Can I give you a call after 6 o’clock?”,’ reveals Maguire. ‘I was like, “Just about to take off for Bournemouth. Yeah, no problem”. That 40 minutes was a long flight! I didn’t know if he was ringing to say, “You’ve just missed out, we’re looking at…”. I knew if I wasn’t in this camp, I don’t think I’d have been back in the England set-up.
‘But he rang me early at about 10 to six, thankfully! He told me I would be in the squad and that I deserved to be here – it was an amazing phone call. When you’ve been a regular for six or seven years and playing every game, when it’s taken away from you all of a sudden, it hurts. But you always have that little bit inside that thinks you still have something to offer. So this felt a bit like my first call-up, really. My mum rang me up crying, bless her. She was in Spain on holiday. I don’t know how many drinks she’d had!’
Maguire himself might have felt like crying when he was later sent off in the 2-2 draw at Bournemouth. ‘A bad end to a good day,’ he says.
Maguire said a change of manager at Manchester Uniter has ‘helped’ in terms of his current role in the side
He is of the view that he never would have been involved with England again if he had missed out on a spot in this camp
But club matters must wait. For now, he is competing with an established four of John Stones, Marc Guehi, Dan Burn and Ezri Konsa for a place in Tuchel’s squad. There is a feeling, though, that his recall is more significant than some others in this expanded 35-man group. Sitting in front of us with his St George’s room key on his lap, it is clear Maguire backs himself to turn that into an airplane ticket to North America.
‘I have great belief in myself,’ he says. ‘I’m a top-level centre back. You don’t play seven years at Manchester United, under the scrutiny that we’re under, especially in a centre back position, where every goal you concede is analysed, scrutinised, or play for England at three major tournaments, kicking every single ball, every minute of every game in those tournaments, penalties, without having the belief that you deserve to be there.’
As Maguire leaves, I ask him if that belief was strong enough not to book a family holiday for this summer?
‘I kept it free, just in case,’ he says, and he is smiling again.
Never mind 30 seconds, this felt like a 30-minute case for inclusion. Now let’s see what he does over 90 at Wembley on Friday.
