England manager Thomas Tuchel has explained why he decided against calling Man United defender Harry Maguire up for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
Speaking to reporters after England’s 3-0 win over Latvia on Monday, Tuchel, 51, stated the 32-year-old wasn’t fit enough to make his first squad.
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Tuchel said: "He (Maguire) was not fit when we did the nomination. It was presumed that he could play but we didn’t want to nominate a player with whom we had to take a risk, and in the first training or second training and constantly need to assess whether he can do a full training session or half training session.
“We did the same with Reece James and only because of the feedback that he could do every session full was the reason we brought him into camp."
Maguire picked up a knock in training after Man United’s 1-1 FA Cup draw with Fulham at the start of March.