Former Tottenham Hotspur winger Andros Townsend has now been praising Harry Maguire amid the criticism he has received of late.
Townsend was speaking on the BBC’s ‘The Monday Night Club’ and was praising Maguire for the resilience he has been showing.
Despite never dropping out of the England side, Maguire has received an awful lot of criticism over the last year or so.
And looking back to his own England days whilst still playing for Tottenham, Townsend had so much admiration for the defender’s mental toughness.
Townsend said: “Harry Maguire’s mental toughness is absolutely incredible.
“If I go back to 2014/15, every time I was named in an England squad I would be trending on Twitter, the abuse I would get – it used to destroy me and my confidence.
“So for someone like Maguire the level of scrutiny and the criticism, he was getting booed at England and United games.
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“The level of mental toughness to not let that destroy you and come back stronger and be first choice for United and England is absolutely incredible. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”
Townsend thinks Tottenham linked Maguire has a brilliant mentality
Of course, Tottenham were often linked with a move for Harry Maguire in their rebuild under Ange Postecoglou.
A price tag of around £30m was often mentioned, despite a deal seemingly never progressing.
And whilst many still criticise Maguire, he is now receiving a lot of support from some England fans who recognise how unfair his treatment has been.
Regardless of Southgate’s selection decision, the defender has played consistently well for his country.
As Townsend states, it is quite remarkable that Maguire has been able to shoulder so much abuse, and still perform for England.
Townsend was capped 14 times, and although he’s now enjoying a revival at Luton Town, it seems fairly safe to say that the 32-year-old won’t be adding to those in the future.
Unfortunately England will of course be missing James Maddison in these coming games.
And although Southgate has plenty of options to replace the midfielder, Ange Postecoglou doesn’t currently enjoy the same pleasure.
And he may now be best served turning to an 18-year-old in Spurs’ academy.