Grealish and Maddison, for all their charisma and talent, would only have been impact substitutes in Germany, but, when fit, Maguire was a guaranteed starter.
Without one of his favourite sons, Southgate has been left short of top-class defensive options and tournament experience across an exciting but top-heavy squad.
Maguire was cut after the manager learned he would not recover from a calf injury until after England's three group games in the "best-case scenario", and it was a wrench for Southgate to axe a player who has always delivered for England when it mattered and remained a bedrock of his back four.
"[Kieran] Trippier has not had 90 minutes yet, [Luke] Shaw is still a gamble," said Southgate, explaining the decision. "So that would have meant an additional defender as well as Maguire.
"We end up with 10 [defenders] and we are short-changing ourselves elsewhere for a player who is higher risk, is not going to get there anyway.
And by the time he is fit, he [has been] out for seven weeks." Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi is now the leading contender to partner John Stones at centre-half at the Euros, and expected to be given more minutes in tonight's second and final warm-up friendly against Iceland at Wembley.
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