Harry Maguire is back, will he be back against Scotland?

Harry Maguire is feeling good ahead of the upcoming match against Scotland and is ready to start. The 28-year-old Manchester United defender has been going through a rough patch. He hasn’t played since the game against Aston Villa in early May, in which he picked up an ankle injury, and it was uncertain whether he would be able to recover for the Euros. His condition has improved so much that England coach Gateth Southgate included him in the nomination despite the fact that the stopper was not fully fit.

Maguire spent the first group game against Croatia only in the stands to watch his team win. Aston Villa stopper Tyrone Mings came on in his place alongside Stones and helped keep a clean sheet. The coach will thus have a difficult decision to make on which stopper pairing to field.

Maguire, who joined Manchester United from Leicester, was injured at the beginning of May in a league match against Aston Villa, in which the Red Devils won 3-1. He suffered an ankle injury after a clash with Aston Villa midfielder El Ghazi.

Fortunately for the English stopper, a more detailed examination showed no major ligament damage.

“I feel fine. I’m back and available, training and looking forward to it,” Maguire said.

The injury caused him to miss the end of the Premier League season, but also the Europa League final, in which United fell short to Spain’s Villareal. He then missed England’s two preliminary games for the Euros against Austria and Romania.

However, despite not being fully fit, Southgate included him on the roster for the European Championships in the hope that he would be able to recover and jump into one of the games.

“I have undergone a few training sessions and I feel I have match fitness so I am ready for the game,” the defender added.

He also reckons that the ankle may be sore in the coming weeks after the heavier workload, but dismisses speculation that he is returning too soon.

England have an important game against Scotland on Friday night which could take them closer to qualifying for the knockout stages of Euro 2020.

It will be interesting to see how Southgate resolves the stopper situation.

Sources used: BBC, ESPN