The Manchester United defender was dropped for the upcoming matches against Greece and Finland.

Lee Carsely has insisted Harry Maguire has a ‘really important part to play’ at international level despite being omitted from Thursday’s England squad.

The Manchester United defender was dropped by Carsley in his second squad as interim manager, despite being selected in his first roster last month. Instead, Carsley selected a defensive group that included Levi Colwill, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, and John Stones.

Speaking in a press conference shortly after the announcement, the 50-year-old said the decision not to include Maguire was more about seeing new players in action. Carsley also revealed he spoke to the ex-Leicester City man to explain the decision just a few hours before United’s Europa League clash against Porto.

“Harry is a player I have worked with in the past. He was really positive in the conversation that we had,” explained Gareth Southgate’s replacement.

“I was wary of the conversation going on too long because he has a game tonight. It was a case of talking to him about what my decision was.

“We have some really good centre-backs that I am keen to see and I am wary of bringing away players that are really experienced that potentially aren’t going to play much. But Harry has a really important part to play in the up and coming camps.”

Carsley’s advice for those axed in the latest squad to ‘keep playing as well as they can for their clubs’. Along with Maguire, Tino Livramento, Eberechi Eze and Jarrod Bowen were left out from the group that met up in September.

“The players that have been left out, it was more of a chance for me to look at other players,” Carsley explained. “Nothing that they have done and nothing to do with form. It’s about using this period of the next two camps to experiment a little bit and look at other players.

“The players that have been left out have all got a case to be in the squad but I think it’s important that given the benefit of the last squad feeling fresh, I thought it was important that it was not just a copy and paste. I want them to feel that they’ve earned their place in the squad.”

England play Greece at Wembley on 10 October before travelling to Helsinki to face Finland three days later in the third and fourth games of the Nations League campaign. The Three Lions began last month with wins over Republic of Ireland and Finland.