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Harry Maguire believes the harder times he has experienced at Manchester United would have broken many players and says he has seen teammates find the Old Trafford spotlight too big to handle.
Maguire, who feels he is “arguably one of the best defenders in the world in both boxes”, this week signed a new one-year contract with the option of a further season. That extends a United career which began when the club paid a then world-record fee for a defender, £80m, to sign him from Leicester in 2019.
The 33-year-old has made 266 appearances for United, winning the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, and has had many ups and downs. Appointed captain by Ole Gunnar Solskjær in 2020, he experienced a downturn in form as the Norwegian’s reign unravelled, lost his place under Erik ten Hag and appeared poised to leave for West Ham in the summer of 2023, having lost the armband to Bruno Fernandes.
Maguire said what he called a laidback attitude, never listening to outside noise, had helped him overcome those hurdles to again become a key player for United.
“I see a lot of players come into this club and quite frankly it’s just too big for them,” Maguire said. “The eyes on you, the scrutiny, the analysis. Every goal that goes in, it’s someone’s fault. There’s going to be ex-players speaking about it. That’s just part and parcel of playing for this club.”
Asked if his experiences would have broken lesser players, Maguire said: “Probably. I think there’ll be a lot who want to maybe just close the book and just go elsewhere and restart their career. I think it’s probably broken them a little bit earlier.”
Of his own situation, he said: “It got to a point where it got really that low, the mocking and the abuse – if you want to call it abuse – that there was only one way it could go.”
Maguire has been an ever-present for United since Michael Carrick took charge in mid-January, helping the club move up to third place, back in the frame for Champions League football. He believes the club is on the right path to get back to the very top of English football.
“Next season you look at it and I think we’ve got to be in the bracket where if we get the recruitment right and everything’s positive from now to the end of the season and we keep going on the curve, there’s no ceiling to where we can reach. We’ve got to be in the conversation to go and win the big trophies.”
Maguire hopes to be part of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad at this summer’s World Cup and backs himself to deliver. He earned a first international call-up in 18 months last month, although Tuchel has said Maguire remains behind Ezri Konsa, Marc Guéhi, John Stones and the injured Trevoh Chalobah in the pecking order.
“I’m desperate to go, whatever role the manager would want me for, whether that’s starting or whether it’s deciding games late on,” Maguire said. “I still believe, even at my age, I’m arguably one of the best defenders in the world in both boxes. I don’t think that’s in question really. That can be really effective later on in games, whether you’re holding on to a lead or trying to chase a game. I still think there’s an important part that I can play.”
