Neville believes Maguire could sit out the whole tournament if he doesn’t recover for group games

Gary Neville believes that Harry Maguire shouldn’t feature in the knockout stages of Euro 2020 if he’s not fit in time for England’s two remaining Group D matches.

Maguire suffered an injury to his ankle ligaments in Manchester United‘s 3-1 victory against Aston Villa in early-May, and he was forced to miss United’s Europa League final defeat to Villarreal.

Despite this, Gareth Southgate included him in England’s 26-man squad, but he was left out of the matchday squad against Croatia.

The centre back, who’s played 32 times for England, has resumed full training, but there are doubts as to whether he’ll be ready in time for Friday’s match against Scotland.

If he misses Tuesday’s clash against Czech Republic too, then Gary Neville, chatting to Sky Sports, believes it would then be too risky to play him in the knockout stages.   

‘If Harry Maguire can get back to a level, he will come back in. But if he comes back in, I think if it’s not against Scotland, it has to be against Czech Republic,’ said Neville.

‘You couldn’t make Harry Maguire’s first game back a knockout game.

‘Maguire must surface in the next two matches, otherwise I fear you won’t see him in the tournament, and it would be Stones and Mings to continue.’

Tyrone Mings has received praise for the way he stepped up in England’s 1-0 victory against Croatia alongside John Stones, which came as a surprise to Neville.   

‘I think Tyrone Mings did really well – it was an important match for him, said Neville.

‘Looking at John Stones and Mings as a partnership before the tournament, you would have concerns against the best teams. 

‘I think what we saw against Croatia was Southgate’s reaction to what all of us were thinking pre-tournament; that their weakness is defence, and that they’re going to need to keep clean sheets if they’re going to win this tournament.