Manchester United captain Harry Maguire opens up on bit-part role
Manchester United’s Harry Maguire has opened up regarding his disappointment about being left out of the overhaul under Erik ten Hag.
The 29-year-old, who has only completed the full 90 minutes on four occasions in the Premier League this season – two of which came in the opening couple of matchdays – expressed his desire to fight for a place in the Red Devils’ premium starting line-up.
Having been pushed to the peripheries of the squad, Maguire starred in Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Reading in the fourth round of the FA Cup. His side waltzed through to the next round courtesy of contributions from their brilliant Brazilians, as Casemiro (2) and Fred stole the show with second-half goals.
Super sub Amadou Salif Mbengue netted the scant consolation goal for the visitors, much to the exasperation of Ten Hag.
Maguire spoke to ITV following the match, exclaiming, “I’m a player, 29-years-old, and I haven’t really been in this position in my career so it’s a position that I don’t want to get used to, but it’s part of the parcel of football. I’m working hard everyday, I’m pushing, I’m training well, and when my chance comes I need to take it.”
Appreciating the competition for places, he added “We know at this club we need competition for places, we have some top centre-backs at this club so I think we’re all good from now until the end of the season.”
Seemingly, while Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane remain Ten Hag’s favoured centre-halves, Maguire finds himself behind Victor Lindelof and even Luke Shaw in the pecking order.
Speaking in his press conference ahead of the FA Cup tie, Ten Hag shed light on the same. He mentioned, “Harry Maguire? He’s not our fifth choice. Harry has to fight for his position and things can change – sometimes also really quickly. I think he is making progress and it’s up to him now.”
Maguire has been linked with a shock switch to Midlands-based Aston Villa in recent weeks. Although he’s highly unlikely to leave in the next three days, a move in the summer is on the cards as the club aims to build a squad under their new manager and prioritise their wage bills.
Meanwhile, Manchester United, who have now won 11 successive home fixtures across all competitions this season, host Nottingham Forest for the second leg of their EFL Cup semi-final on February 1. They already have one foot on the door of the final, having thrashed Forest 3-0 at the City Ground.
-Akarshak Roy
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Ardfern. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.