Southgate to bring Maguire back

Gareth Southgate has plans of bringing Harry Maguire back into the England set-up next month.

This is after withdrawing the defender from the squad following his conviction in a Greek court.

Last month, Harry Maguire, captain of the Manchester United team was found guilty on a range of charges, including assaulting a police officer, days after an alleged incident on the island of Mykonos.

The 27-year-old, who said he feared for his life during his arrest, maintains his innocence and has lodged an appeal.

United said that the appeal “extinguishes” the court verdict and nullifies the conviction.

Maguire, who became the world’s most expensive defender when he made his £80 million ($105 million) switch from Leicester to United last year, will not be involved in England’s Nations League double-header against Iceland and Denmark.

England boss, Southgate, whose team face Iceland in Reykjavik on Saturday, removed Maguire from the squad after he was given a suspended prison sentence of 21 months.

Asked on Friday if he had been in contact with Maguire and whether he would come back into his thinking in October, Southgate told reporters at his pre-match press conference,

“Yes and yes. We’ve been in touch right the way through the last two-and-a-half weeks.

It’s been clearly a really difficult period for him and I think the last few days have been very important for him to be able to relax, get away from all the attention and mentally get a rest.”