Lee Carsley insists Harry Maguire s omission from his latest England squad is not due to form and he still has an important role to play for his country.
Manchester United centre-back Maguire missed Euro 2024 for beaten finalists England due to injury but was involved for interim boss Carlsey s first squad since Gareth Southgate departed for the Nations League victories over the Republic of Ireland and Finland last month.
However, there was no place for the 31-year-old ahead of this month s Nations League double-header against Greece and the return clash with the Finnish.
Maguire was the fifth-most utilised player for England under Southgate, with only Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, Jordan Pickford and John Stones appearing more, and Carsley explained that the decision was just to take a look at other options.
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It was a chance of having a look at other players. It s nothing to do with form. It s looking at the next two camps to look at other players, Carsley said.
The players left out all have a case but we saw the benefit in the last camp of the squad being fresh, feeling fresh and a lot of energy in it.
It s not just a copy and a paste, I want them to feel like they all have earned their place in the squad. People want to know where they stand long-term, I ve told all the players this is a short-term situation.
Harry is a player I ve worked with in the past. He was very positive in the conversation we have.
It was a case of talking to him about what my decision was, we have some really good centre-backs who we are keen to see play. Harry still has a really important part to play, not just in this squad but also in the campaign.
