When Harry Maguire looks back at his career at Manchester United – whether he’s in this summer’s expected eviction or when his contract expires in 2025 – will he really believe it was a success or admit it was the outright failure that the majority of supporters will tell you it has been?
That answer could be decided during United’s end of the season as Maguire braces for a surprising run of games at the heart of defense after Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez were both ruled out with injuries in Thursday’s 2-2 draw against Seville. .
In what has become an ongoing theme of error for the Englishman, it was his stoppage-time own goal that saw the Spanish underdogs leave Old Trafford with hopes of a draw that should instead have left their Europa League campaign in tatters after the first half of Marcel Sabitzer. clamp.
When Maguire dropped to one knee after Youssef En-Nesyri’s header bounced off him and past David de Gea, there was a glimmer of empathy for the 30-year-old.
He probably not only acknowledged the precarious position in which United’s Europa League had been given hope by his mistake, but also feared the consequences of his own supporters, who have previously made it clear that they urgently want to sell him.
Harry Maguire has a chance to make up for his Manchester United career with an unexpected run of games after two defensive injuries
Maguire (far right) scored an own goal that leveled Sevilla in Thursday’s Europa League fixture
The United captain (left) played a supporting role this season under Erik ten Hag (centre).
Maguire (right) has been used as a scapegoat by the majority of United supporters
It’s easy to make Maguire a scapegoat when things don’t go well, but the worrying idea is that things went well and yet he’s still hammered as one of the most talked-about reasons for failure when results and performance drop off.
Look through the history books of the leaders who have donned the prestigious armband and judge for yourself where Maguire stands as let’s not forget that despite being a benchwarmer this season he still captains the club, if only for the most part by name.
Roy Keane and Nemanja Vidic won five Premier League titles during their years in charge, Wayne Rooney remains United’s all-time leading goalscorer, Maguire….a Carabao Cup title in which he played a small part and a price tag of £80 million rather celebrated as a strange sort of success when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sealed his transfer.
But now, in a painful twist for United supporters, Maguire has a chance at redemption with eight Premier League games remaining, an FA Cup semi-final with Brighton and a Europa League quarter-final in Seville.
With fewer bequests made, Maguire can’t pass up this opportunity.
He played 3,169 minutes for the club last season, scoring less than half of that under Ten Hag’s reign, proof if ever needed that Maguire isn’t recognized as a key asset by the United boss.
However, one thing you can never doubt about the Englishman is his desire to at least try and become the type of player good enough to play for the 13-time Premier League champion.
During the club’s torrid derailment last season, he was one of the few who continued to fight to get things back on track and emerged in interviews where others were too scared or perhaps embarrassed to do so.
Under the management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, England’s Maguire was a regular starter at the back
He will need every ounce of that fight to revive an Old Trafford career that seems drowned, but if he helps United achieve everything they dream of at this trophy-deciding time of the season, then all, or at least most, will be forgiven. .
If two more trophies and a top four finish in the Premier League conclude Ten Hag’s first season, Maguire will join Rooney as United’s most successful captain since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club.
The Englishman won the Carabao Cup trophy with United this season
After just his sixth top-flight England start of the season in United’s recent 2-0 win over Everton, Maguire insisted he didn’t like being demoted from his previous starting position by Ten Hag.
He said, ‘Listen, I’m not going to stand here and say I love it, or I like it. Not me.
“I want to play every game and I’ve been doing that for the last eight years of my career.
“Listen, if I get my chance, I want to perform, I want to win and most of all I want to influence the game for the team.”
Well Harry, now you’re getting that chance you’ve been so desperately longing for and if you want to stay with one of the world’s greatest teams you’ve got to back those demands up with the kind of performance that World Cup winning centre-backs Varane and Martinez have for the most part of the season produced.
Often thriving, he looks like a player who shines away from the pressures of club football when consistently picked by England manager Gareth Southgate as one of the first names on the Three Lions team sheet.
Time is running out – perhaps it has already – but bringing that international form into domestic football is just what is needed if he is to save his reputation and future at Old Trafford.
Raphael Varane (left) and Lisandro Martinez (right) look ready for a long stint on the sidelines
Maguire (left) sank to his knee as his own goal on Thursday put Sevilla level at Old Trafford
Maguire (left) will have the chance to cash in on his United career in the run-up to the end of the season
Following England’s European Championship qualifying victory over Italy in March, Maguire, clearly puffed up after another win, bizarrely suggested his “influence is still there” at United.
Whether he wants this to be a trophy-winning influence or the type that has followed other failures out of the revolving door of the Carrington training complex is up to him.
United fans, Ten Hag and Maguire himself probably thought his career at the club was over, but if he can finally repay some of that ridiculous fee that followed him to the club by helping to secure two more pieces of silver this season then can he reshape his career with the Red Devils and start again at the club where many want him gone.
If his new-found minutes end in United falling by the wayside then his future is in order, a summer sale ensues and Maguire’s time in Manchester is over.