Gareth Southgate has offered his backing to Harry Maguire – but warned the Manchester United defender that his England position will not be guaranteed indefinitely.
The centre back has endured a difficult season, with his own form struggling as United have been left with an uphill battle to secure a top four finish – and consigned to a fifth straight year without a trophy.
Southgate still considers Maguire part of his strongest defence – but admitted club form could not be ignored forever.
Ahead of Tuesday’s game against Ivory Coast, the England manager said: “He has helped get us to a World Cup semi-final and a European Championship final so there is no doubt he is more than capable of playing for us at a high level.
“He was very good for us in the autumn and the club are in a very difficult moment, there could be any number of reasons for that. That doesn’t mean players can be poor for a couple of years and still find their way in, sometimes it depends on competition for positions.
“We have left some forward players out who haven’t been in good form, but there are direct replacements, experienced replacements for those players so it is a complicated decision.”
Southgate added: “Selection is always a difficult conundrum because we have got players we know have performed well in an England shirt. There has got to be some level of scrutiny of how people are performing with their clubs, that has got to be a factor, and then not so much for this week, but who is the opponent, who is best suited to playing against them.
“I know everyone has a view on it. In the end, we need the best players possible playing at their best level to give us the best chance.”
Luke Shaw admitted on Saturday his own difficulties at United and his relief when joining back up with the England squad.
Southgate said: “I hope we have an environment where all the players think they can be the best version of themselves and a lot of that is credit to the environment they have created.
“We have got super characters. I am looking at the young players coming in, the older ones are sitting with them at mealtimes, making them feel at ease.
“Then there is clarity with your job, what is expected of you and I think they are the things we have to achieve to help people perform at the right level.”
Southgate would not confirm if Harry Kane will be given the opportunity to move clear as England’s second leading goal-scorer of all-time against Ivory Coast.
The Tottenham striker is now level with Sir Bobby Charlton on 49 goals after his winning penalty against Switzerland on Saturday.
But it is not clear if he will play on Tuesday.
“If he had his way he would play 90 minutes of every fixture, which is a brilliant quality to have because if your captain wants to be at every camp and playing every minute of every game, it sets the tone for everything else,” said Southgate.
“The fact is we have got a good squad, we want to keep people involved and give them opportunities.
“We need to see certain things during the week to see if people can play at the level. We will make those decisions to when people play and doesn’t have.
“It is a good quality to have and why he has the number of caps he has. We used to talk about the (Steven) Gerrards and the (Frank) Lampards and the Ashley Coles. They got 100-plus caps because they committed every time to coming with England. That’s what you want.”
