Harry Maguire has suggested that it would be a failure if England failed to win Euro 2024 following their progress at recent international tournaments.
The Manchester United defender, 30, has featured regularly at international level under manager Gareth Southgate and started in every game during the World Cup in Qatar last year.
Maguire, who was also part of the England teams that reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and Euro 2020 final, says winning the European Championship in Germany next year would be the only measure of success.
He said: “I believe we have the players to win it.
“I’m with a mindset of, ‘if we don’t win the tournament, it’s been a failure.’ I’ve been at three major tournaments now and I’ve come so close.”
England kicked off their Euro 2024 qualifying in sumptuous style after beating Italy 2-1 in Naples on Thursday.
Southgate’s side next face Ukraine at Wembley Stadium on Sunday and Maguire believes England have made a great start to their qualifying campaign.
“Obviously, we’ve got to qualify first from a tough group, we’ve come to Italy and got an amazing result,” he added. “We’re in a good place.
“But these big tournaments are decided on the finest margins. I think we played really well in the World Cup and ultimately, we got knocked out by a good French team.
“So it’s something that we’re working on. We have so much talent and so many young players coming through.”
At club level, Maguire has only made 11 Premier League appearances for Manchester United this season, with manager Erik ten Hag opting for Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez as his preferred centre-back partnership.
Despite falling out of favour, Maguire insists he has nothing to prove to anyone.
“I’m nearly 30 but I shouldn’t need to prove myself at this level,” he said.
“I’ve made over 50 caps and I’m England’s top-scoring defender. I’ve played nearly 200 times for Manchester United, I’ve captained the club for three years but I also understand that when you are the captain of Manchester United you come under the most scrutiny.”
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(Photo: Getty Images)
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Source: News