Gareth Southgate will leave the door open for Harry Maguire to get an England recall.
Manchester United captain Maguire has been granted permission to appeal his guilty sentence in a Greek court but the process could take up to two years to completely clear his name.
It is understood that Southgate remains fully supportive of Maguire and is likely to speak up for him when he next talks publicly despite having to drop him from the England squad.
Maguire could be back as soon as October for England’s fixtures with Wales, Denmark and Belgium while United are also backing their man by making it clear he will keep the captain’s armband.
It is a big show of faith despite Maguire being given a suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of repeated bodily harm, attempted bribery, violence against public employees and insult after arrest while on holiday in Mykonos.
Maguire’s legal team began the fight to clear his name on Wednesday and United issued a club statement insisting that an appeal in Greek law means he is now innocent until his retrial is heard.
The United statement said: “An appeal against yesterday’s verdict was lodged this morning by Harry’s legal team. In accordance with the Greek judicial process, the filing of an appeal extinguishes the initial court verdict and nullifies the conviction.
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“The appeal has been accepted and will lead to a full retrial in a more senior court. This means that Harry has no criminal record and is once again presumed innocent until proven guilty. Accordingly, he is not subject to any international travel restrictions.”
Meanwhile, Maguire has received an overwhelming number of messages of support from England team mates after his court case and being dumped from the squad for next month’s Nations League qualifiers with Iceland and Denmark.
It is understood he has had calls, texts and messages backing him as he prepares to start the season with the case still hanging over his head.
Maguire, who has denied all wrongdoing and insists he was attacked by police rather than the other way round, has been told by prosecution lawyer Yoannis Paradissis that he should apologise and that way he will get a different outcome at the appeal.
But his brother, Chesterfield defender Laurence Maguire, says there is no chance of his brother saying sorry.
"Absolute no chance Harry will be apologising. Daisy and no one in the group was interviewed by the police," he posted on Twitter.
