England manager Gareth Southgate backs his decision to pick Maguire when he wasn't playing for his club

London [UK], December 24 (ANI): Gareth Southgate, the head coach of the England national team, praised Manchester United defender Harry Maguire and expressed support for consistently including him in the national squad, even when he wasn't featuring in the Red Devils' starting lineup.
Harry Maguire has faced a lot of criticism for his performance by the fans as well as former players. After being stripped of captaincy before the beginning of the 2023/24 season and eventually lost his place in the starting XI.
Despite his position in the club, the 30-year-old defender was one of the first names on Southgate's sheet. The English manager backed his decision to stick with the defender and hailed his "resilience."
"He's a resilient character and you've got to have that resilience. If you're playing at a club like Manchester United, you're talking one of the biggest clubs in the world. There is always going to be any number of stories in the news every day about a club like that," Southgate told Sky Sports.
"We know that he can play in the biggest games, we've seen him in the tournaments, we know what he brings to the group. In my view, you back your players and I've felt at the times we've felt the need to do that, it's been the right thing to do. We've always had belief in him. People say 'you have your favourites', but it's not a case of 'they're the people I like the most'. They're the people that have played well for us, they're the ones that we think are still our best players," Southgate added.
Maguire was a crucial figure in Manchester United's defensive line-up last month. His efforts were recognized as he was crowned Premier League Player of the Month for November.
After clinching the award he became the first defender to win the award since Liverpool's Joel Matip who achieved it in February last year. (ANI)