The omissions of Jack Grealish and James Maddison from Gareth Southgate’s final, 26-man squad for the European Championship were the most controversial in a fraught 24 hours which the manager described as his hardest in the job, but the absence of Harry Maguire was surely the most consequential.
Grealish and Maddison, for all their charisma and talent, would only have been impact substitutes in Germany, but, when fit, Maguire was a guaranteed starter.
