Harry Maguire is aiming for a strong season after being snubbed from the World Cup squad, but he admits there will be something strange to start it off.
Man Utd are less than three weeks away from returning for pre-season, although it will be an extremely scattered return.
Forget returning to training, United will have played a friendly fixture before the end of the World Cup, so a lot of players will be missing the pre-season.
However, that’s not even the strangest thing about this pre-season for Harry Maguire.
Harry Maguire has been left out of England’s World Cup squad ❌🦁 did he deserve a spot on the plane?
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Harry Maguire’s ‘strange’ pre-season
For a player who had become the definition of reliability under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Maguire has been surprisingly injury-prone in the last few years.
Perhaps all that mileage in his legs is starting to catch up to him. Even still, he played amazingly to earn himself a new contract.
The first full season after signing a new contract also makes him best placed to make an impact, because he’s getting a long rest.
Of course, he would have liked to represent his country at the World Cup, but from a personal POV, this strange long absence can benefit him.
He said [via The Rest is Football podcast on Netflix]: “We are back in on the ninth, the Wednesday, the Wednesday the ninth. This is the longest break I’ve had since making my England debut; it’s been nice, but it’s been strange. I will have had six and a half weeks off. Pre-season, I usually get three weeks before the first game, but I will have like six and a half weeks, a long way to build up.”
Man Utd will be boosted by Maguire
As Maguire says himself, he will have a long time to build up this season instead of running from one tournament straight into another club season.
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At his age, that recovery time could be the difference between picking up an injury or two, or flying with full fitness.
United will be happy to have a leader’s presence in a dressing room that will be largely empty of senior players to begin with, as most will be with their national teams.
United return to pre-season training on July 6, with Maguire joining those players who aren’t at the World Cup.
Their first game is on July 18th, against Wrexham, where the youngsters will get a chance to impress.
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