The international break is almost upon us and Manchester United defender Harry Maguire will not be involved for England.
October is here and that means a second international break of the season is imminent.
These early-season breaks are always frustrating; the season starts and players are whisked away and come back for a few weeks only to head off again.
Manchester United have a couple of huge games to handle before players travel away with their countries.
Porto are first up for United as Erik ten Hag faces a pivotal Europa League clash after last week’s 1-1 draw with Twente.
United are on the road again on Sunday, travelling to take on Aston Villa in another crucial Premier League clash.
England boss on Harry Maguire
United players will have international football in the back of their minds but one player who can forget about a call-up is Harry Maguire.
The United defender missed Sunday’s game with Tottenham Hotspur after picking up a knock in training.
Maguire has now been left out of the England squad to face Greece and Finland in the Nations League.
Interim England boss Lee Carsley has now commented on leaving Maguire out – and his conversation with the centre back.
Speaking on England’s official YouTube channel, Carsley noted that he was ‘really wary’ about speaking to Maguire for too long today given that he is in contention to play for United against Porto.
Carsley spoke to Maguire briefly but the United defender was ‘very positive’ during that conversation.
Carsley added that Maguire still has a big role to play for England moving forward but he didn’t want to call him up if he wasn’t going to play a prominent role.
“Harry is a player that I’ve worked with in the past,” said Carsley.
“He was very positive in the conversation that we had. I’m really wary about having them kind of conversations and them going on too long because, obviously, he’s got a game tonight.
“It was a case of talking to him about what my decision was, obviously we’ve got some really good centre backs that I’m keen to see play and I’m wary about bringing players away that are really experienced that potentially aren’t going to play much.
“But Harry has still got a really important role to play, not only in this squad, but in the upcoming campaign,” he added.
United will be pleased with England decision
Maguire will now stay in the country rather than link up with England.
The defender has recently had a slight knock and may not even be 100% fit to play for United right now.
Seeing him head away with England would have been a concern for United, no doubt fearing that Maguire would have little time to rest.
Maguire will now have that break after Sunday’s game with Aston Villa before pushing for more first-team action at Old Trafford.
Breaking into the starting XI isn’t easy right now with Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez starting, but Maguire will hope to impress soon enough – and push for an England recall.
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