Gabby Agbonlahor reignites feud with Premier League legend over England debate

Gabby Agbonlahor has called Phil Neville’s recent comments on Harry Maguire ‘nonsense’, as he revived their old feud.

In a recent piece for the Times, Premier League winner Neville insisted that Thomas Tuchel was right to controversially leave Maguire out of England’s World Cup squad.

Harry Maguire is missing out on a third World Cup with England this summerGetty

In Maguire‘s place, Tuchel selected Manchester City duo John Stones and Marc Guehi, as well as Ezri Konsa as his centre-back options.

Stones and Konsa were the chosen partnership in England’s World Cup opening win over Croatia, but the pair raised eyebrows as they conceded twice in the first-half of the 4-2 victory.

This has reignited the debate over Maguire’s exclusion this summer, but ex-Manchester United and Everton defender Neville has since insisted that Tuchel’s initial call was still the right one.

The 49-year-old claimed Maguire is not suited to England’s new style of play, who have adopted a more dynamic approach compared to under Gareth Southgate, where he was a mainstay in the backline.

Neville wrote in the Times: “He was a perfect centre half for the way Gareth Southgate set up his team.

“But this England side have moved on under Tuchel, as we saw in that dynamic display against Croatia. 

“If you look at the way teams such as Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are now playing, the whole game has moved on. It’s more physical and aggressive, with players required to be faster, more athletic.”

Another war of words?

It’s fair to say Neville’s comments didn’t go down well with talkSPORT’s Gabby Agbonlahor, who wasted no time in reigniting the pair’s long-running feud, which began in 2022 over the Aston Villa hero’s comments on his time with England.

Agbonlahor shut down Neville’s comments on Monday’s talkSPORT Breakfast, saying: “What does Stones do? Come out with the ball. What does Maguire do? Come out with the ball.

“So that’s nonsense with Phil Neville, but I don’t expect anything less.”

John Stones and Ezri Konsa started England’s World Cup opener, but it remains to be seen if they will continue as a pairingGetty Neville has insisted there is no place for Maguire in Tuchel’s new-look EnglandGetty

After slating Neville’s argument, Agbonlahor admitted there is no love lost between him and the former Everton skipper.

It all began in 2022 when Agbonlahor had used David Beckham as an example of his experience of an unfriendlier culture at England during his time as part of the national team.

The Villa icon told talkSPORT that captain Beckham didn’t speak to anyone and ‘closed his diary in disgust’ on one occasion when Phil Jagielka tried to strike up a conversation.

This was immediately disputed by Neville, who called Agbonlahor’s tale ‘bulls***’, and was followed by a back-and-forth on social media.

Revisiting this on Monday, Agbonlahor explained: “We had a little spat, maybe a couple of years ago.

“We had a little bit online because I mentioned something about my time away in England and David Beckham, how he sat with his diary and he’d done this.

Agbonlahor couldn’t resist having another pop at Phil NevilletalkSPORT

“And he [Neville] was like: ‘Oh, that’s nonsense’.  I was like: ‘I’ve got no reason to lie’.

“But it was nothing big. then we went back and forth on social media. But I’m not going to listen to Phil Neville. Gary Neville, maybe.”

Returning to Neville’s initial comments, Agbonlahor insisted there was no need to revisit Maguire’s omission, which sparked huge fallout when Tuchel announced the England squad.

It left the United star’s family outraged, with his brother, Joe, calling it ‘possibly the worst decision I’ve ever seen in my life’.

On Neville’s latest comments, Agbonlahor added: “Harsh on Maguire. 

“There’s no need to bring it up. Concentrate on the players out there.”