Harry Maguire Hoping for a Comeback Season for Manchester United

Harry Maguire, Manchester United's most expensive defensive acquisition, is the player who has received the most attention. But the attention has been tremendously in the mix over the years, from leading Manchester United as captain to being reduced to a bench warmer.

Maguire has been a victim of immense criticism due to his consistent ability to produce defensive blunders that have cost the Red Devils many goals. However, to be fair to him, he has rejuvenated himself with good, consistent performances recently. Still, Manchester United know if they want to step up a level on the ladder, they might have to move on from the Englishman.

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The Fall of Harry Maguire at Manchester United

In 2019, United made a statement signing for a record 85M Pounds for the signature of Harry Maguire from Leicester City Fc. For so many years, the Red Devils have been struggling with defensive issues, which has cost them the biggest of stages, especially in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. After having decent spells at Hull City and Leicester City, Harry Maguire certainly caught the attention of some big clubs.

Even Pep Guardiola tried to sign him, but eventually, United beat everyone in the race. He was bought specifically to eliminate Ole’s men’s defensive struggles at that time. Being strong, tall, good in the air, and decent on the ball, Maguire had the profile to sort everything out at the back.

Things started well for him, eventually, he was named the Manchester United captain as well, but things drastically took a u-turn and Harry was subject to some very poor and casual displays where he cost his team a lot of points, some from winning positions as well.

Numerous noteworthy errors concerning Harry Maguire have been brought to light by pundits and fans worldwide. One of them was astonishingly a record where he was the first player to be directly involved in all four goals United conceded in a 4-2 loss to Leicester City in 2021.

In Europe, Erik Ten Hag’s first season in charge, Maguire’s disastrous performance against Sevilla in the second leg UEFA Europa League quarter-final was instrumental in them bowing out of the competition being favorites. Since Harry Maguire was signed back in 2019, the Red Devils have not made it past the UEFA Champions League round of 16.

They have been eliminated from the UEFA Champions League group stage twice. Last year being a relatively easier group, but they were fourth and had a goal difference of -3. Similarly, they had a goal difference of -1 in the league, conceding 58 goals, the most they’ve conceded in the Premier League era.

Stats proved that the defensive structure of United, instead of going up, drastically worsened. A huge money defensive signing like Harry Maguire should take the team to the next level like Virgil Van Djik did with Liverpool. The polar opposite happened here in Manchester.

A Recipe for Disaster

Harry Maguire’s journey from being the most expensive defender in Premier League history and captaining the great Manchester United to being a bench warmer explains many things.

There are many reasons why Erik Ten Hag, who had the authority and ruthlessness to remove him and make Bruno Fernandes the captain, should move on from Harry. As explained above, Manchester United has been vulnerable with him in defense, and there are also a handful of tactical reasons why they should sell him.

As good and consistent as Maguire has been since the start of January, he probably deserved to start going in the new season, where he capped off a man-of-the-match display against Fulham. The Englishmen still have that error in him to make defensive blunders and errors even when in good form. In Manchester United’s loss against Brighton, Maguire was at fault for the first goal conceded when he easily could have dealt with the situation but didn’t.

Manchester United suffers greatly from Harry Maguire’s lack of speed and inability to play effectively in a high line. Teams like Arsenal and Manchester City are known to play high defensive lines and dominate teams. Still, Manchester United are caught so often in a high line due to the lack of pace Harry has and his error-prone tendencies, thus forcing them to play in transitions.

A team looking to fight for titles should not be doing that, as it is not sustainable. Not only does Erik Ten Hag know that now he has good quality defensive options, but deep down, Harry Maguire also has an idea of that.

With recruits Matthijs De Ligt and talented youngster Leny Yoro, who is currently injured at the moment, there’s a lot of competition now as the recruits have every quality to play in a decent side that wants to finish in the Top 4 or maybe mount a title challenge. That team would and should be Manchester United this year. Harry Maguire must perform at his absolute best to stay in the starting 11 or move on to another club, which is most likely the best solution for all parties.

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Article originally written by Fahad Hamid