Harry Maguire Reflects on England Squad Omission by Tuchel
Harry Maguire has lived through enough brutal moments in football, but even he sounded taken aback by this one.
No knock on the hotel door. No quiet chat in a manager’s office. Just a screen lighting up.
Thomas Tuchel. FaceTime.
On The Rest is Football podcast, the Manchester United defender laid out the moment he discovered he would not be part of Tuchel’s first major England squad – a decision delivered in a way that felt as modern as it was uncomfortable.
“He FaceTimed everyone,” Maguire said. “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 gather yourself in the walk down a corridor. Just your face, his face, and the verdict.
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 explained, did not dress it 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 ridden out boos, dips in form and constant scrutiny, this one still hurt. Not just the omission, but the timing. Maguire believed he had played his way back into the picture.
“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.”
He had, in his mind, ticked every box: performed for his country, finished the club season on a high, shown he could still anchor a defence at the top level. The response from Tuchel cut through all of that with cold clarity: loyalty to the defenders who had carried him through the autumn fixtures.
For many, that kind of rejection at this stage of an international career might be the beginning of the end. Maguire is not ready to let it be.
Despite the snub, he has stayed close to the heart of the England dressing room, keeping in touch with senior figures Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Jordan Pickford, and making it clear his support has not wavered just because his name is no longer on the team sheet.
The armband may belong to others, but the sense of responsibility remains.
He also refuses to treat Tuchel’s contract through to Euro 2028 as a closed door on his own international ambitions.
“I don't think I would retire from England,” he said. “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 who has already played in a World Cup semi-final and a European Championship final, that sounds modest. It isn’t. It is a line in the sand.
Maguire knows the landscape has shifted. Younger centre-backs are pushing through, tactical demands are evolving, and England’s defensive pool is deeper than at any point in his career. Tuchel has nailed his colours to the mast with the defenders who “got him through the autumn”.
But Maguire has built his career on outlasting the noise. If the manager is watching, the message could not be clearer: he is not done with England, even if England, for now, is done with him.
