Former England captain Wayne Rooney says Harry Maguire was "very unlucky" to miss out on a place in Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad this summer.

Manchester United defender Maguire, who has made 66 appearances for his country, was part of the England side that reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in Russia in 2018 and the last eight in Qatar in 2022.

While injury ruled Maguire out of Euro 2024, a recent recall for the March internationals had raised the 33-year-old's hopes of making the plane for the tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada.

"I think the Maguire one was the big one for me, which was bit of shock," Rooney said on the Wayne Rooney Podcast.

"I think if you look at him on form, I think Harry Maguire is very unlucky not to be in it. Maybe he's [Thomas Tuchel] thinking he doesn't want to be disrespectful to Harry Maguire and take him and not play him. I don't know.

"I'm sure they've had conversations. The big call out of the defenders [was probably] Harry or Dan Burn and Tuchel has obviously chosen to go with Dan.

"Even the decisions I don't like, I think I've got a trust in Tuchel and in him as a manager from everything we've seen."

Rooney, 40, won 120 caps and scored 53 goals for England between 2003 and 2018.

And having represented his country at six major tournaments, he believes the England boss has largely made the right calls around the number 10 position, with Morgan Rogers and Jude Bellingham preferred to Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Morgan Gibbs-White.

Rooney said the German's next test will be dealing with the potential furore if Aston Villa's Rogers is selected ahead of Real Madrid's Bellingham.

"I think that's a challenge which Tuchel has to be ready for," Rooney added.

"I'm sure he's prepared and if he doesn't start, I'm sure he knows what comes with that from the media, from Jude, from Jude's family.

"Obviously you've got Jude who's missed camps, but you can't leave him out of the squad.

"I think Jude would probably be the one who goes against what Thomas Tuchel is trying to create for this tournament. He is a maverick and you've got to accept that. You need that type of player in your World Cup squad.

"Jude has moments, big moments. We've already seen that. So there's [the] evidence."

'I like we've got three number nines'

Rooney also expressed his delight at Tuchel's decision to bring Al-Ahli forward Ivan Toney in from the international wilderness.

Toney scored 32 goals in the Saudi Pro League this season and prior to his move to the Middle East in 2024, netted 36 goals in 85 Premier League games for Brentford.

"He's a very good player, he's scored goals in Premier League and he's gone to Saudi. Scoring goals is never a bad thing, it's not a bad habit to have," Rooney added.

"I just like the fact that we've got three number nines. If you're chasing a goal, rather than bringing a number 10 on who wants to get on the ball and play, get goal scorers on the pitch, get people on who know where the net is and are scoring on a regular basis.

"I'm sure no one will be putting Saudi in front of [Cristiano] Ronaldo saying 'why is he going, he's playing in Saudi Arabia?'"

The former Brentford striker was part of Gareth Southgate's squad at Euro 2024, when England lost in the final to Spain.

And Toney is expected to play a similar role this time, as a back-up to Harry Kane, with all three of his appearances in that tournament coming as a late substitute when England were chasing the game.

"Harry's obviously England's record goalscorer. He'll score goals wherever he is. It looked like if Harry wanted to stay on the pitch under Gareth Southgate, he was staying on the pitch.

"Thomas Tuchel has to take that away from him. In the last 20 minutes of games, with that heat, with the humidity, altitude - you need to keep him as fresh as you can.

"[Toney] has got a lot more to his game now. He can hold the ball up really well. And in that heat, when the ball goes up to the centre-forward, the last thing you want is for it to bounce off them." (BBC)

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