Harry Maguire admits he cannot keep just playing once a month for Manchester United but remains confident of winning back his place and helping Erik ten Hag’s team climb the table.
It has been a bumpy ride since the 30-year-old starred in England’s run to the Euro 2020 final, with the defender falling down the pecking order at Old Trafford and then losing the captaincy.
A widely-discussed summer move to West Ham did not materialise and settled Maguire remained at a club where he is trying to get his career back on track with next summer’s Euros looming large.
Gareth Southgate has been a staunch supporter of the centre-back throughout his ups and downs but admitted to concerns over his level of involvement, which the ex-United skipper is determined to improve.
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“I have belief in my ability and what I have done in my career as every player should,” Maguire said.
“Every player who is on the bench should believe they should be starting, otherwise they wouldn’t be playing at a high level. I am no different.
“Listen, it’s been tough. I want to play games. I want to feel important to the club and I want to feel important to the rest of the team.
“At the moment I haven’t been playing anywhere near as much as I’d like. It’s the bottom line of it.
“I’ve just got to make sure I am ready to take the opportunities when they come along.”
Asked when gametime becomes an issue and, given Euro 2024 is coming up, whether that could be sooner rather than later, said: “Yeah, of course.
“I mean, I’m not going to sit here all my life and play once every month and if it carries on then I’m sure myself and the club will sit down and have a chat about things.
“But, honestly, at the moment I’m fully focused on two games for England, two big games.
“Then I’m fully focused on fighting and trying to get back my place at Manchester United and helping the team climb up the league to where we should be.”
England face Australia in a Wembley friendly on Friday before attention turns to the crunch Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy.
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Maguire has kept his England place despite his struggles to break his way into Ten Hag’s line-up, making his first Premier League start of the campaign in Saturday’s 2-1 comeback win against Brentford.
“It’s not my decision whether I start the next game or not,” said the defender, who provided the assist for Scott McTominay’s winner. “I’m unsure on that. I’m sure in a couple of weeks I’ll go back and find out.
“Listen, if you look back on my last 15 to 20 starts for club and country, I would be happy to sit here and say ‘I’m really happy with my performances’.
“My record under this manager speaks for itself. I haven’t started as many games as I’d like, but my win percentage when I’ve played is ridiculously high.
“And of course there’s times when I can do more and times when I can improve and help the team, but, yeah, I’m just wanting to help the team.
“I’m wanting to help the team get out of this position that we’re in at the moment and hopefully we can do that in the coming weeks.”
Maguire benefitted from a string of defensive absentees as he made just his ninth Premier League start since Ten Hag arrived.
The Dutchman has always spoken positively about the defender in public, saying in August that he “has the abilities to be a top-class centre-back” and must “fight for his place”.
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“I can only do what I’ve been doing in terms of when I’ve come into the team, bringing positive performances,” Maguire said.
“I’ve started two games this season and come on in a few off the bench, but, yeah, keep working hard in training.
“The manager can only watch training and make his decision from training and the games when I get the opportunity to play.
“I’ll keep working hard, I’ll keep pushing. I have great belief in myself.”
Vardy eyes 100-point season after Leicester's title win
Jamie Vardy has challenged his Leicester City team-mates to reach 100 points after sealing the Championship title with one game to spare.
The Foxes were promoted back to the Premier League without kicking a ball after Leeds United’s 4-0 defeat to QPR on Friday, but they needed to win on Monday to earn top spot.
Enzo Maresca’s side cruised to a 3-0 victory over Preston through Vardy’s brace and Kasey McAteer’s header, moving them to 97 points.
With one last milestone in their reach, Vardy wants to make sure they end an already successful season on a high.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “We can celebrate it tonight, but now we have another target which is 100 points.
“We are over the moon. It has gone by quick but it's a graft. Not many days off, I'll tell you that.
“The lads - they've given it all. Thoroughly deserved, and I'm glad we've had 5000 to come and celebrate with us. It's not like it's 20 minutes up the road."
After a run of just three victories from nine games in the league between mid-February and April, Leicester have now won each of their last three outings.
Maresca has praised his players for their hard work in what he labelled a “tough season”.
“Fantastic, it's been a fantastic season. The Championship is a tough season and very intense, but I'm very happy," said Maresca.
"Now it's time to enjoy the work of the season to bring this special club back to the Premier League. We deserve it.
“The last two days they have been fantastic. We got promoted, but it was difficult in game preparation. But we used all of today to prepare for the game, the morning and afternoon. It was good.”
Barcelona 4-2 Valencia: Lewandowski hat-trick leads Barca to 4-2 win over 10-man Valencia
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski scored a second-half hat-trick to help his side fight back to claim a hard-fought 4-2 win over Valencia, who were leading 2-1 when they were reduced to 10 men just before the break.
Fermin Lopez's header from a Raphinha cross put Barca in front after 22 minutes, but Valencia's Hugo Duro struck in the 27th and Pepelu scored from the spot after a foul by Ronald Araujo 11 minutes later to give the visitors the lead.
But after Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili saw red for a handball outside the box before the break, Xavi's side dominated and Lewandowski scored with two headers from corners in the 49th and 82nd minutes before getting his treble with a free-kick in added time.
The win postponed Real Madrid's almost inevitable LaLiga title celebrations for a couple of weeks as Carlo Ancelotti's side sit atop the standings on 84 points.
Barcelona moved back to second in LaLiga on Monday with 73 points as they leapfrogged surprise package Girona, who are third with 71. Those two teams will meet in a Catalonia derby on Saturday.
Data debrief
Barcelona conceded two goals in the first half of a home game for the second time this season, after also doing so against Girona in LaLiga in December 2023.
However, Lewandowski's goals have been invaluable to La Blaugrana this season as he's earned 17 points with his 16 goals in the league.
Kimmich ready to open Bayern Munich talks amid Barcelona speculation
Joshua Kimmich is ready to open talks with Bayern Munich over his future at the club amid speculation linking him with Barcelona.
The Germany international has spent nine years at the Allianz Arena, but he is due to become a free agent at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
Barca have been repeatedly linked with Kimmich in recent transfer windows and are said to retain an interest ahead of next season.
Speaking to Spanish outlet AS, the midfielder talked up Barca - as well as fierce rivals Real Madrid - but fell short of saying he is open to a move.
"I want to talk to Bayern. When I do that, I won't go out and talk to the press about it," he said.
"I'm not thinking about this. I will speak to Bayern first. But of course, Barcelona and Real Madrid are amazing clubs with an amazing history."
Kimmich has played 37 times in all competitions this season for Bayern, whose last remaining hope of silverware is in the Champions League.
Bayern will face Real Madrid over two legs for a place in the final, with the first match in that double-header taking place in Bavaria on Tuesday.
Thomas Tuchel will depart the dethroned Bundesliga champions at the end of the season, with Ralf Rangnick the favourite to succeed him.
The managerial uncertainty is not helping with regards to the Kimmich rumours, but he insists that will not be a deciding factor on his future.
"It's not the most important thing right now," he said. "I know that when you sign a contract you don't sign it with the coach.
"You sign it with the club. For me, the most important thing is the club, not just the coach.
"But it's also important to know what the coach thinks about you and the team. Other people in the club can worry about choosing the coach."
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