Tuchel reveals he 'didn't like' Maguire's public reaction to England World Cup snub

Thomas Tuchel has confirmed he has not spoken to Harry Maguire since the Manchester United centre-back publicly criticised his omission from England’s World Cup squad, telling talkSPORT the reaction ‘didn’t help’ and was something he ‘didn’t like’.

Maguire was left out of Tuchel’s summer tournament selection despite a strong finish to the Premier League season with United and a positive debut camp under the German coach in March. Unhappy with the call, the defender took to social media to express his feelings. “I was confident I could have played a major part this summer for my country after the season I’ve had,” he wrote. “I’ve been left shocked and gutted by the decision.”

The reaction extended to his family, with his mother Zoe describing herself as “absolutely disgusted” and his brother Joe calling it “possibly the worst decision I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Maguire later revealed on The Rest is Football podcast that Tuchel delivered the news via FaceTime. “It was quite an awkward call,” he said. “I said straightaway I was really disappointed. I thought I did enough to be in the squad.” Tuchel told him he had gone with the four defenders who had seen England through qualifying.

The England head coach did not dispute Maguire’s right to feel aggrieved, but drew a clear line at the public nature of his response. “It does not help,” Tuchel said. “I will not hold it against him for the rest of his life, because I’m not that type of person. I can forget easily and quickly. But I didn’t like it and it doesn’t help. I’ve not spoken to him since.”

Maguire’s United teammates Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford have both been named in Tuchel’s latest squad for Nations League fixtures against Spain, Czechia and Croatia, rewarded for their form at club level this season. Both players were also part of the World Cup squad, though Mainoo did not feature in a single minute of action — a fact Tuchel acknowledged in his Friday press conference, admitting it ‘hurt him’ not to give the midfielder any game time in America.