Harry Maguire on Tuchel’s England phone call, ‘amazing’ Carrick and his one problem with Amorim

Harry Maguire was stepping onto a late afternoon flight to Bournemouth with his Manchester United teammates when a WhatsApp message pinged his phone. It was the England manager, Thomas Tuchel, asking if they could talk that evening. Butterflies fluttered.

Maguire hadn’t played for England for nearly two years, since he appeared in a Nations League game against Ireland in 2024. He had never played for Tuchel and there had been very little contact from the manager since he took the job last January. “I knew if I missed this camp, I don’t think I would have been back in the England setup,” Maguire admitted.

The defender has endured a mixed season. He struggled for form and fitness under Ruben Amorim and felt inhibited by the manager’s beloved back-three formation. But a run of games in Michael Carrick ’s transformed United side have kindled faint hopes of playing in a third World Cup, at the age of 33.

Sitting on the plane, Maguire turned to fellow England prospect Kobbie Mainoo. “I asked Kobbie if he’d got a text as well and he said, ‘yeah’,” Maguire smiles. That offered some reassurance and, two hours later, Tuchel rang to confirm he was finally back in the England squad for World Cup warm-up games against Uruguay and Japan at Wembley.