Matt Maher: Club form just a minor concern for Gareth Southgate

Harry Maguire, in that respect, surely provides the best evidence of how Gareth Southgate has not so much quelled the noise of the age-old club v country debate than tipped the argument entirely in his own favour.

Pilloried with regularity for his performances in the Premier League, Maguire seems to stand just those few inches taller for England. The call-up sometimes viewed as an inconvenience by his predecessors and other key players at the nation’s biggest clubs has instead become a beacon of relief, an opportunity to reset in an environment where his value is not in question.

For all Maguire’s recent struggles, there was never any danger of him not being included in Southgate’s latest squad.

That is not to say the England boss is blind to form. Yet the culture he has created and which has been such a big factor in driving England’s success requires loyalty to preserve it.

It is the same philosophy which gives Conor Coady and Tyrone Mings the edge despite being arguably outperformed by younger club team-mates (though Coady has himself enjoyed an excellent season). Maintaining squad harmony is vital for Southgate and the pair currently occupy an important place in the collective.

Maguire has played an integral role in England reaching the semi-finals of a World Cup and last summer’s European Championship final. On the pitch, he has never let Southgate or the team down. Only if his club form is replicated on the international stage is his place likely to come under threat.

That might be frustrating for young players impressing in the Premier League and eager to break into the national squad. Yet in what is a relatively short turnaround between the Euros and this winter’s World Cup, it is only logical for Southgate to keep faith with the core group he knows and trusts. Having already presided over England’s most successful period since the late 1960s, it is tough to quibble too much with his judgement.