Harry Maguire has admitted disappointment at Gareth Southgate’s decision to drop him from the England squad, though Manchester United’s captain does understand why the manager did so in the wake of his conviction in a Greek court.
On Tuesday Southgate initially selected Maguire for next month’s games against Iceland and Denmark, citing how the defender was denying the charges and how discussions with Maguire had convinced him of the 27-year-old’s innocence.
Yet when Maguire was found guilty later that day of assaulting a police officer, swearing, resisting arrest and attempted bribery, Southgate reversed his decision.
Maguire, who has launched an appeal and said he “did nothing wrong”, was asked about Southgate’s action. “Yeah I understand – obviously I’m disappointed,” he told the BBC. “I love playing for my country, I’m physically good, I’m mentally strong.
“Mentally I can get over this. I’m a strong lad. I’m physically and mentally ready to play [so] no, I’m disappointed. But of course I understand.”
The incident occurred on Mykonos last week, Maguire having been pictured during the day enjoying alcohol. Maguire was asked whether that had been a factor.
“I’m not going to sit here and say I didn’t have a drink all day,” he said. “I had a few drinks. Anybody who knows me, anybody who knows who has been out with me, knows how I am when I have a few drinks – I’m always aware, I always stay in control. I definitely really wasn’t drunk. I knew what was going off. I just found myself in a bad situation.”
Maguire admitted he may now decide to holiday with security. “It’s changed my mind on that – with the security it’s something I have to look into,” he said. “I don’t want to do it, I don’t want security coming away with me; I don’t feel like I should need to. But in the current climate and the situation i found myself in, would it have helped? Yeah for sure.”
Maguire has no misgivings about going to Mykonos. “I don’t see myself as regretting going out there. I’ve been before and had a great time,” he said.
Maguire is confident his form will not be affected. “I don’t think it will affect my performances,” he said. “If you spoke to my family over the past few days they’d tell you I’ve been the strongest out of all of them [involved in this].
“Obviously its a tough time – speaking about it makes me angry, I feel myself working up a bit when I speak about the events and obviously speak about what happened to the girls and especially my sister [Daisy].”
It was put to Maguire that the prosecution lawyer had cast doubt on the claim that Daisy had been approached by two men and injected with a substance that affected her.
“I’m confident that something happened with Daisy,” he said. “There was a mark on her arm, she had a little stamp mark on her arm, a little you can call it a needle mark on her arm as well. So I’m 100% confident. She was fine, she wasn’t drunk. Then she finds herself going in and out of consciousness.”
There was a claim that Maguire’s sister had not mentioned this to the police. “It made me angry because not one of the police department interviewed any of our people. So I’d like to see the record of this interview because Daisy for sure didn’t get interviewed,” he said.
Magure is not concerned that because the appeal may take between one and two years to be heard this might affect him. “I’ll put it to one side,” he said. “I makes me feel a bit angry inside but I’m sure for me I’ll move on.”
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/31yqW0U
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