England made a mess of the Harry Maguire situation, claims Wayne Rooney
England face Iceland and Denmark in the UEFA Nations League next month
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In light of Harry Maguire’s case in Greece and him subsequently being dropped by England, Wayne Rooney has opined that the Football Association did not handle the situation very well. The Manchester United captain has been replaced by Conor Coady for the upcoming UEFA Nations League games.
Before the 2020/21 Premier League season starts, England will play their first international games since November, and coach Gareth Southgate announced a 24-man squad for the same. However, after Harry Maguire was found guilty of various charges in Greece, the defender was dropped from the squad. He was initially named in the squad but dropped after the guilty verdict and replaced by Wolverhampton Wanderers captain Conor Coady.
The Manchester United captain, however, received a 21 month and ten days long prison sentence that was suspended because it was his first offense. However, he has been handed a retrial after appealing against the verdict but despite that, Wayne Rooney has admitted that England’s Football Association has made a mess of the situation. The former England captain also added that in his opinion if Gareth Southgate was given another chance, “he would make a different choice”.
"I thought there was no way Gareth Southgate could name Harry in the squad he announced on Tuesday, but he did. It would have been more sensible to say: 'Harry has just played a very long season and needs more rest and let's wait to see what happens with his court case’,” Rooney wrote in his column for the Sunday Times.
"By jumping too quickly and putting him in the squad, it was almost inevitable he'd have to get pulled out. Now it looks a mess. They've picked him, pulled him out, and now do they put him back in the squad? Because as things stand he is a free man and innocent!"
