England boss Gareth Southgate has described Harry Maguire as one of England’s “best centre-backs” after the defender was named among the Three Lions’ Qatar 2022 World Cup squad.

The Manchester United captain was selected by Southgate despite struggling for gametime at Manchester United and the England boss has explained why.

“He’s one of our best centre-backs,” he stated. “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.”

“We’ve picked our more experienced defenders,” Southgate added. “In this moment in time, the younger ones have got some really good qualities.

“But we don’t think they’ve done quite enough to push the more experienced ones out. With the tournament we’re going into and the level of the matches, that had to be the pecking order.”