GARETH SOUTHGATE will consider leaving Harry Maguire out of the England squad in order to let his Mykonos drama blow over.
Maguire yesterday flew home to face the football fallout from the boozy brawl that landed him in court.
Harry Maguire pictured outside on court on the Greek island of Mykonos
Gareth Southgate must make a decision over the Manchester United skipper’s place in his squad
His legal case could be wrapped up as soon as Tuesday — the day Southgate is due to name his party for the Uefa Nations League trips to Iceland and Denmark.
But the Three Lions boss may well decide to take the Manchester United captain out of the firing line and prevent all the focus being on how he performed in the wake of the Greek incident.
United’s involvement in the Europa League semi-finals means Maguire would have limited time to regain match fitness for next month’s games in any case.
Omitting the 2018 World Cup star from the first England squad for ten months would still be a big call for Southgate, but it looks like the best solution for all sides.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has plenty of time before the new season to decide whether Maguire, 27, deserves to keep the armband.
But Southgate has to make a call much sooner.
The England boss will not want to pre-judge the legal case, in which the defender has denied all charges.
And the fact Maguire has been allowed to leave Greece supports claims his alleged crimes are misdemeanours rather than felonies.
But at the same time, Southgate must weigh up how far Maguire has broken the unwritten rules he expects England players to follow.
The Three Lions boss dropped Raheem Sterling from a Euro 2020 qualifier last November following an altercation with Joe Gomez while on international duty.
On the face of it, that was a more minor incident than what is alleged to have happened on Mykonos in the early hours of last Friday.
When asked in June about how he would treat stars like Jack Grealish for breaking lockdown rules, the England boss said he would not judge anyone on one incident.
Harry Maguire played more minutes than any other footballer in the world in 2019-20
But Southgate stressed: “It is clear the character of your senior players and the influential players and the drive within the team is critical.
“All of our players have to recognise that with England there’s a further level of profile as well.
“And they’ll be held more accountable than just a player that plays club football. They have to be conscious of that.”
Harry Maguire leaves court after ‘brawl with Brits and police’ in Mykonos
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
