Harry Maguire was brutally benched by Erik ten Hag in the latest indication of his bleak future at Manchester United.
The Red Devils captain, who struggled during Thursday's 4-2 win against Aston Villa in the EFL Cup, was left out of the starting XI as United faced Fulham on Sunday in their final Premier League match before the World Cup. With right-back Diogo Dalot suspended and Ten Hag's defensive options limited, the Dutch tactician bizarrely decided to start left-back Tyrell Malacia out of position rather than simply slot Maguire into the back four.
While it still would've meant centre-half Victor Lindelof playing as a makeshift right-back, the Swede has covered there on numerous occasions this season, with Maguire subsequently partnering Lisandro Martinez at the heart of defence in the absence of Raphael Varane. Ten Hag's decision left Maguire - who's only played one full league match in three months - as the only defender on the away bench at Craven Cottage, just days after it emerged that the Red Devils boss wants to sell the 29-year-old in the summer.
Confident in his decision to play Malacia in a new role, Ten Hag explained to BBC Sport pre-match: "We tried him there in training, he did well there. That is the reason why."
Maguire's snub is a concern for England manager Gareth Southgate, who this week selected the £80million man as part of his squad for the World Cup. Southgate has consistently stood by Maguire through poor form at club level, insisting that he remains among the Three Lions' best four centre-backs, despite his lack of playing time for United this term.
"He's one of our best centre-backs," Southgate told a press conference on Thursday. "I think within the squad, we've got a lot of players that have been to tournaments, have performed at that level, and know what's required. We've got other players who are playing well, who are in form right at this moment, and we've got to balance all of that when picking our team."
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He added: "We've had really good communication with all of the clubs in this period. We needed to know those who are playing, what their loads are, those who are playing less regularly. Some have had unbelievably intense schedules, some have had less so. So, we're picking up various fitness levels and we've got to get that right on the training pitch.
"We've picked our more experienced defenders, and we think at this moment in time, the younger ones have got some really good qualities but we don't think they've quite done enough to push the more experienced ones out. We think the tournament that we're going in to and the level of the matches, that needed to be the pecking order."
