Former England manager Sam Allardyce is deeply critical of Thomas Tuchel’s admission about the role of Manchester United defender Harry Maguire for the Three Lions.
Harry Maguire has returned to international duty with England after his run of form under Michael Carrick saw him called up for the Three Lions during the March break.
The 33-year-old former Manchester United captain had been a key player for Sir Gareth Southgate for England before the ex-Three Lions manager stepped down.
Tuchel, who succeeded Sir Gareth Southgate at England in 2025, delivered a major blow to Maguire’s World Cup ambitions for the Three Lions over his potential role.
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Harry Maguire had impressed on his return for England with his performance against Uruguay in the Three Lions’ 1-1 international friendly draw at Wembley last Friday.
Despite his first appearance under Thomas Tuchel for England, the Manchester United star faced a tall order in competing for a place in the Three Lions squad.
Speaking after the Uruguay match, Tuchel had claimed that Maguire is still at least the fifth-choice centre-back pick for England ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Sam Allardyce insisted that it is a challenge for a player like Maguire to immediately perform at a high level after being left out of the England squad for so long.
“And if you haven’t got that agility of your mind, particularly lacking a little bit of pace, you’ll get caught out at the level he plays at,” he said on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast.
“If you’re good and clever in football intelligence, you take up those positions and not to get caught out, which I think he’s shown to be pretty good at.
“You come back in, having been frozen out, and you’re expected to play at the top level and the top of your game right away, and you haven’t been involved for weeks.”
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Maguire made a cameo appearance for England in the Three Lions’ second – and final – match of the March international break against Japan at Wembley.
Tuchel brought the Three Lions international on late in the second half after he took off Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa in the 84th minute of the 1-0 defeat to Japan.
Allardyce was far from impressed with Tuchel’s “harsh criticism” of Maguire and questioned if the Man Utd star would want to be part of the World Cup squad now.
“You’re in a squad, but you’re stuck,” he continued.
“And your fitness cannot be kept up because it’s match fitness you’re losing. They’re probably still maybe going to let him go now because they don’t want these older players, past their 30s these days, they don’t seem to want to use that experience as much as we used to.
“But he’s been a model professional as far as I’m concerned, and he’s taken every criticism on the chin, and he’s proven everybody wrong at the moment.
“So, that’s harsh criticism, but I wonder whether I’d even want to go in his squad if he said that about me.”
Maguire’s run of form at Old Trafford in recent months has seen the Man Utd and England star start in all 10 matches of Michael Carrick’s interim reign so far.
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