While John Stones is the key man in that respect, there are not many players of his many gifts available. Southgate’s enthusiasm for him is rooted in his reliability in the England system, where the centre-halves are required to have the ball as much as any player on the pitch. It will be fascinating to see what happens to Maguire next. In that moment at Wembley, and what might in other circumstances have been one of the highlights of his career, it must have been obvious he had to leave. If change is coming at last to United, then Maguire arrived at the wrong time. At the top of the steps to meet the captain without a role, was Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill, two titans of a faded past, as well as one of the Glazer siblings who just will not sell the club. The captain still, in all but the playing.Īnother awkward moment in this strange United decade. When United lost at Wembley, Maguire, an unused substitute, led the team up the steps grim-faced to get the losers’ medals.
Four days earlier, the man whom Maguire had replaced in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United team four years earlier, Chris Smalling, played a Europa League final. With Lisandro Martinez missing Saturday’s FA Cup final through injury, there was no doubt that Victor Lindelof would start ahead of Maguire. Without him in the side – even with Luke Shaw as a co-opted centre-half – Ten Hag coaxed better results.
Even so, this has not developed into a glorious late season comeback tale. He has tried to salvage what he could from an unpromising season, and done so without complaint. But there were periods where he disappeared from view, which for a man who would once barely miss a minute will have been a painful public loss of status. Maguire has made 31 appearances for United, and his five Premier League starts post-Qatar were all wins. There were some moments of consolation over the season after he was dropped by Erik ten Hag following United’s opening day defeat to Brentford. It has been a grim season for Maguire, and just when there was a glimmer of hope, two chaotic United performances against Sevilla in the semi-final of the Europa League final saw him exposed again at crucial moments. That tells you something – and will have some resonance for the clubs, like Tottenham Hotspur, considering a summer move for the man still known as the world’s most expensive defender. Harry Maguire has been perched on the brink of England squad excommunication for almost 10 months now, and every time Gareth Southgate intimates that this might be the last chance for his centre-half, the manager invariably picks him.
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