Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has had a tough time since he made the £80 million move to Old Trafford from Leicester City.
The defender was given the captaincy almost as soon as the Englishman made the move north. After a good start, problems seemingly emerged with mistakes here and there being overanalysed by the media, which naturally led to fans questioning the defender’s performances, sometimes rightly or other times wrongly.
The defender was stripped of the captaincy two weeks back, with the consensus being that was the right decision for United and maybe a chance for the defender to have the spotlight taken away.
Onana and Maguire
Following this morning’s 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, one overarching narrative has built up. After a mistake from the defence, new United goalkeeper Andre Onana makes a smart save to deny the Germans from scoring.
The 26-year-old got up and sprinted over to Maguire with a stern look on his face and words were said, which has been blown out of context by fans and outlets on social media.
Ironically, the mistake that led to Onana berating him wasn’t the Englishman’s fault. A loose touch from Christian Eriksen meant the ball got away from the Dane which eventually forced Onana to be called into action.
This isn’t a slight on Onana, more of a general musing really, as the former Ajax goalkeeper had every right to berate his defence for the sloppy play.
Maguire needs to leave for his own good
Maguire, who admittedly has not lived up to the price tag associated with his move to United, needs to move away from Old Trafford. I say that not because of his performances but because of the abuse he receives game to game.
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A gander at Maguire’s Instagram or Twitter is rather depressing. Reams and reams of comments about the Englishman needing to leave the club, except it’s said with a lot more colourful language included.
The rather bleak, albeit true reality is that Maguire would need to perform 8/10 minimum every single game for a season or two before the narrative on the defender changes.
37 great performances from the defender would be shunted and the intense glare and focus would be on the one ‘bad’ game he played that season.
With footballer’s mental health, finally, being at the forefront of people’s minds following Dele Alli’s brave comments a few weeks back, it seems that Maguire’s mental state has conveniently not cropped up in people’s minds when they hurl abuse at the former Leicester City defender.
Whatever the future holds for the former Hull City defender, it is seemingly clear he needs to move away from United, not just for his career but his mental health.
Despite some, including myself, who believe he has a future here, it’s clear the United faithful, with some booing the defender last night, will never be able to set agendas and biases aside when it comes to the 30-year-old.