Harry Maguire admits he cannot keep just playing once a month for Manchester United but remains confident of winning back his place and helping Erik ten Hag’s team climb the table. It has been a bumpy ride since the 30-year-old starred in England’s run to the Euro 2020 final, with the defender falling down the pecking order at Old Trafford and then losing the captaincy. A widely-discussed summer move to West Ham did not materialise and settled Maguire remained at a club where he is trying to get his career back on track with next summer’s Euros looming large. Gareth Southgate has been a staunch supporter of the centre-back throughout his ups and downs but admitted to concerns over his level of involvement, which the ex-United skipper is determined to improve. “I have belief in my ability and what I have done in my career as every player should,” Maguire said. “Every player who is on the bench should believe they should be starting, otherwise they wouldn’t be playing at a high level. I am no different. “Listen, it’s been tough. I want to play games. I want to feel important to the club and I want to feel important to the rest of the team. “At the moment I haven’t been playing anywhere near as much as I’d like. It’s the bottom line of it. “I’ve just got to make sure I am ready to take the opportunities when they come along.” Asked when gametime becomes an issue and, given Euro 2024 is coming up, whether that could be sooner rather than later, said: “Yeah, of course. “I mean, I’m not going to sit here all my life and play once every month and if it carries on then I’m sure myself and the club will sit down and have a chat about things. “But, honestly, at the moment I’m fully focused on two games for England, two big games. “Then I’m fully focused on fighting and trying to get back my place at Manchester United and helping the team climb up the league to where we should be.” England face Australia in a Wembley friendly on Friday before attention turns to the crunch Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy. Maguire has kept his England place despite his struggles to break his way into Ten Hag’s line-up, making his first Premier League start of the campaign in Saturday’s 2-1 comeback win against Brentford. “It’s not my decision whether I start the next game or not,” said the defender, who provided the assist for Scott McTominay’s winner. “I’m unsure on that. I’m sure in a couple of weeks I’ll go back and find out. “Listen, if you look back on my last 15 to 20 starts for club and country, I would be happy to sit here and say ‘I’m really happy with my performances’. “My record under this manager speaks for itself. I haven’t started as many games as I’d like, but my win percentage when I’ve played is ridiculously high. “And of course there’s times when I can do more and times when I can improve and help the team, but, yeah, I’m just wanting to help the team. “I’m wanting to help the team get out of this position that we’re in at the moment and hopefully we can do that in the coming weeks.” Maguire benefitted from a string of defensive absentees as he made just his ninth Premier League start since Ten Hag arrived. The Dutchman has always spoken positively about the defender in public, saying in August that he “has the abilities to be a top-class centre-back” and must “fight for his place”. “I can only do what I’ve been doing in terms of when I’ve come into the team, bringing positive performances,” Maguire said. “I’ve started two games this season and come on in a few off the bench, but, yeah, keep working hard in training. “The manager can only watch training and make his decision from training and the games when I get the opportunity to play. “I’ll keep working hard, I’ll keep pushing. I have great belief in myself.” Read More Harry Maguire supported by ‘role model’ David Beckham after Hampden experience England forward Ollie Watkins: I no longer go shopping due to recognition Conor McGregor closes in on UFC return by re-entering anti-doping test programme England rewatch Fiji Twickenham defeat to ‘fuel the fire’ for World Cup showdown Kieffer Moore bags a brace as Wales put four past Gibraltar in Wrexham Steve Clarke confident Scotland’s best performance is good enough to match Spain

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Chelsea boss Emma Hayes refused to step on England manager Sarina Wiegman’s toes when asked if Lauren James should return to the Lionesses’ starting line-up for Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain. The 21-year-old Blues forward scored three goals and picked up the same number of assists before she was sent off in the Lionesses’ last-16 victory over Nigeria and given a two-match ban for stepping on the back of defender Michelle Alozie. Having served her punishment during the quarter- and semi-finals, James is now available to reclaim her spot in Wiegman’s starting XI – but she remains in competition with replacement Ella Toone, who netted the Lionesses’ opener in their 3-1 last-four victory to eliminate co-hosts Australia. James’ club boss Hayes said: “I think you know, I’m a manager but picking someone else’s team is not my job. It’s Sarina’s. My job is to enjoy it. Those players are prepared for whatever happens and for whatever team Sarina picks. I’m sure Lauren would be ready. “Lauren is just very excited to be in a World Cup final as all of the England players are. They are all excited. “It’s about England as a team and England as a whole and they have all stepped up and filled in, whether that’s Katie Zelem who filled in for Keira Walsh or Ella Toone at least filling in for Lauren James after that quarter-final. “Lauren is an outstanding player and will go on to contribute many more moments for both club and country. As always she will be reflective and will move forward with that.” James, who apologised for the red-card incident on social media, came off the bench in England’s 1-0 Haiti opener to kick-start their undefeated path to the final, then scored the winner against Denmark in her first World Cup start. She bagged a brace in the Lionesses’ thumping 6-1 win over China to conclude the group stage, also assisting three goals in that rout. James’ stock has risen under the watchful eye of Hayes, who has won the Women’s Super League (WSL) manager of the year award six times, including the past four seasons, and predicted her Chelsea charge would be vital to the European champions’ hopes of lifting a first World Cup. Hayes was named FIFA’s best manager in the women’s game in 2021, succeeding Wiegman, who has now won the award three times after also receiving the honour following England’s Euro 2022 triumph. It is no surprise, then, that both women’s names have been floated as potential candidates to take over the US women’s team, a role made vacant on Thursday after US Soccer announced the federation and Vlatko Andonovski had agreed to part ways. The decision came after the FIFA world number one-ranked Americans not only failed to defend their back-to-back titles, but were knocked out by Sweden in a last-16 penalty shootout for their worst-ever finish. Hayes, who has managed Chelsea since 2012, said: “I suspected that question would come up. “I’m very happy at Chelsea, I’ve made that clear. I’ve been there for 11 years, it’s my home. I think the US has wonderful players and perhaps the tournament didn’t go the way they wanted but my focus is on getting home and preparing the team for the start of the season.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Football rumours: Chelsea turn attention to Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson Carlos Alcaraz gets his revenge against Tommy Paul in Cincinnati On this day in 2018: Tyson Fury defeats Francesco Pianeta on points in Belfast