England Defender Harry Maguire Defiantly Insists Three Lions Will 'Take Risks' at the World Cup

Defiant England star Harry Maguire has assured Three Lions fans that the team will try to be bold and 'take risks' at this summer's World Cup in the pursuit of glory.

It is now just three weeks until the tournament commences, with England's first game against Tunisia to be played on June 18. Before that though, there are two friendly matches for Gareth Southgate to experiment in against Nigeria and then Costa Rica.

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Maguire, who did not train with the rest of his teammates but rather followed a personalised conditioning programme ahead of Saturday's game with Nigeria, gave an interview with the Times about his nation's chances in Russia.

Echoing Eric Dier's positivity, he said: "The World Cup’s going to be really exciting. Brazil are probably favourites but, then again, you look at Germany who have big-tournament experience, [who] always come good, it’s that mentality they’ve got. But we have nothing to fear. We just need to go and make the fans proud.

"Gareth’s calm, his temperament is really good, he rises above things. Tactically, he is really good. His philosophy is to be fearless. Gareth doesn’t really fear anything.

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"I don’t think I’ll stop taking risks. It’s my way. I’m confident in my ability. If the worst comes to the worst and you do play a bad pass, and it gets picked off, you should still be safe because we’ve got good enough cover."

Maguire should see plenty of action against Nigeria and Costa Rica, and is in with a good chance of starting in Russia, even if Southgate opts to go with two centre-backs - arguably he's now ahead of Gary Cahill in the pecking order.