Harry Maguire's Reaction to England Omission: A Deep Disappointment
Harry Maguire has lived through some brutal selection calls in his career. This one still jarred.
No knock on the hotel door. No quiet word in a corridor. Instead, a FaceTime.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, the Manchester United defender laid bare the moment Thomas Tuchel told him he would not be part of the latest England squad – a decision that has left a deep mark but not broken his international ambition.
“He FaceTimed everyone,” Maguire revealed. “It was quite an awkward call. I received a text saying can I speak to you about 4pm. It is quite a unique way of doing it and it must be quite hard because he can see everyone's reactions.”
There is nowhere to hide on a video call. No chance to mask the disappointment, no time to rehearse a response. Just a manager, a player and the hard truth between them.
Maguire did not pretend to take it well.
“I said straightaway I was really disappointed,” he admitted. “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, he says, offered no tactical smokescreen or vague reasoning, just a blunt explanation rooted in loyalty to those already in place.
“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 66-cap defender who has been a pillar of England’s recent tournament runs, it cut deep. This was not a player clinging on at the fringes. Maguire believed he had earned his place back.
“It was tough to take,” he said. “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.”
That is the sting: form, minutes, performances – all seemingly in his favour, only to be told on a screen that it was not enough.
Yet this is not the sound of a player turning his back on his country. Far from it.
Even after the omission, Maguire has stayed close to the heart of the dressing room. He remains in regular contact with senior figures such as Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Jordan Pickford, checking in, offering support, staying emotionally plugged into a squad he still views as his own.
The door may feel half-closed from the outside, especially with Tuchel under contract through to Euro 2028, but Maguire refuses to shut it himself.
“I don't think I would retire from England,” he insisted. “I still feel I have something to offer. 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.”
One more cap. For a player with 66 already, that line says everything about what England still means to him.
Tuchel has nailed his colours to the mast with the defenders who carried him through the autumn. Maguire, stung but unbowed, has made his own position just as clear: as long as he is playing and believes he can contribute, he will wait, work and be ready for the next call – whatever time, and however awkward the screen.
