England’s Harry Maguire on his journey from League One to the brink of the World Cup

Harry Maguire remembers when he was 18 years old, breaking into the Sheffield United first team, and was worried about the prospect of marking Gary Madine in a Sheffield derby. “I used to analyse my opponents a lot, every week I thought ‘I’ve got another big test here’” he recalls. “I thought he was a top player and was going to be hard to mark.”

That was October 2011, but last month Maguire came up against a player who provided a completely different challenge. “We had a really tough game away at Manchester City, if I am honest,” Maguire admits. “Sergio Aguero scored four that day.” It was a brilliant solo performance, making Aguero the best opponent Maguire has ever faced, even ahead of Harry Kane, who “put one in the top corner from nowhere from a tight angle” when Tottenham went to the King Power earlier this season.

It is an interesting insight into Maguire’s rise, from League One to the England squad, but it also shows the value of his learning curve. He was a product of the Blades academy, who made his first-team debut soon after turning 18. After three full seasons in the third tier he moved to Hull City, into the Championship, then into the Premier League, before moving to Leicester City last season. It is a textbook story of a young player moving up through the system, from club to club, earning the right experience at each stage to move on to the next one.

Maguire is proud of where he has come from and what he has learnt. Like James Tarkowski, playing League One for Oldham Athletic when Maguire was doing the same for Sheffield United. Or John Stones, who started in the Championship with Burnley. Or Nick Pope, who had plenty of non-league loans from Charlton Athletic to develop. Or Jamie Vardy, who famously played for Stocksbridge Park Steels. There is a growing pattern in this England squad: big academies are not the only way.

“The way people come through is different for everybody,” Maguire says. “One thing for certain is that when you play in the lower leagues, you get experience of playing games week in, week out, which is really big, especially as a young boy. You see a lot of players in the Premier League who are very talented young boys but they don’t really play or break into first teams until 21 or 22 years old. So playing in the lower leagues is a big help in terms of playing week in, week out.”

Had Maguire not started off in League One, who knows if he would be in the England squad this weekend. “By the age of 20 I had played around 160 games, which is quite a lot of a boy that age. You see some players who might have not got a chance by then. If you are not playing games, you can’t improve, really. You can’t develop your experience as a player. But there is nothing like putting your boots on a Saturday at 3pm and going out and playing a league game for three points where it means a lot and the pressure is on.”

Which is why, seven years after worrying about Gary Madine, Maguire is ready to face Holland and Italy this weekend. And if he does well, he might have Belgium and whoever else to worry about in Russia in June.