Manchester United’s Harry Maguire has provided some insight into the toughest moments of his career.
Renaissance
The experienced centre back has had some tumultuous moments at Old Trafford and his time at United looked finished in 2023 when he seemed on the verge of a transfer to West Ham United.
No deal came to pass however, and he has now fought his way back into the first team squad.
Maguire’s importance under Ruben Amorim has been seen in his inclusion in the six-man leadership group.
What’s more, it has been reported that United are keen to offer him a new contract to keep him at Old Trafford for the rest of his career.
Media criticism
In an interview with Rio Ferdinand for his podcast Rio Presents, Maguire spoke on the pressures of dealing with the media.
He was asked to explain how he has handled such intense scrutiny and he explained, “as much as I can, ignore it all. Social media nowadays is tough. It is nice when people speak well of you but when you play for this club you soon realise that you can be spoken well of and then three months later it can be totally different. It can flip so quickly.”
Maguire then claimed that the people who really suffer are the players’ families. The defender explained, “I think it is harder for the players’ families. They are the ones that see it. When I speak to people they don’t generally bring up ‘oh, Roy Keane said this about you or Rio said this about you’. They probably bring it up to my mum and dad or my brother. Personally, I think they are the ones that suffer a bit more than myself.”
Younger players
The England centre back then stated that the people who can suffer more are the younger generation. He explained that as an older player you learn how to deal with the pressure but young players can break as you don’t know which way their career will go.
He was then asked to provide advice for the younger players facing this media attention and he retorted, “I’ve got a great team around me, I have got a great family. Really close to my friends. It’s really important to have good support around you. You can only do what you can do.”
Specific pressures at United
Maguire then explained the unique pressures of playing for a club of United’s stature and how this can be a mental drain on players.
He explained, “when you play for this football club, everything gets analysed. Every goal that goes into the back of the net is someone’s fault. You do become used to it but for a young boy coming into it… I see a lot of players at Manchester United break through in one or two years and then after the second year they start getting questioned and the form dips a little bit.”
His toughest moment
Finally, Maguire disclosed his toughest moment was when he was playing for England away to Scotland and was jeered by the fans.
He asserted, “it got to a stage where people had realised that it had passed the mark of banter. That’s the moment where it turned. I had a lot of people who reached out to me.”
Maguire also claimed that a lot of the criticism of his play was made for video content and not real analysis. He elaborated, “I had a bad six months where everything I did was online. Videos of me, every misplaced pass, it got to the stage where anything that was posted was just for clicks. I can take criticism from players and ex-players but it got to the stage where it was all for clicks and followers.”
Featured image Shaun Botterill via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
