Harry Maguire: The Weight of the Manchester United Armband

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·4. Januar 2025

Harry Maguire: The Weight of the Manchester United Armband

Harry Maguire’s ascension since moving to Manchester United has seen him play for his country and captain one of England’s biggest clubs. The Sheffield-born man came to Old Trafford under the guise of being the most expensive defender of all time at £80 million. There were great expectations for the centre-back, and these were only elevated by the Englishman being named captain back in 2020.

At the time, Maguire was seen as the biggest leader at the club. Within just six months, the central defender had to adapt to a new system and club while leading the team week in and week out. But, in this case, the Manchester United captain’s armband had a weight greater than gravity, proven by the victimisation of Harry Maguire.

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Fortunately, the English defender appears to have fought through the criticism and abuse he’s received after losing the captaincy. Maguire is back in the starting eleven and proving to be a key player under Ruben Amorim, but his time at United has been anything but easy.

Ole’s at the Wheel With Harry at the Helm

Ole Gunnar Solskjær was appointed as the interim manager of Manchester United on 19 December 2018, after the sacking of José Mourinho. The Norwegian manager was head coach of Molde and was due to return at the end of the season. However, a successful stint as caretaker boss saw Solskjær appointed as the permanent manager in March 2019.

In the 2019 summer transfer window, United brought in three players. Aaron Wan-Bissaka was signed from Crystal Palace, Daniel James was signed from Swansea City and Harry Maguire was the star signing for £80 million from Leicester City. James signed as a promising youngster and impressed off the bench regularly; Wan-Bissaka and Maguire both became starters immediately, playing 101 combined games in just the 2019/2020 season.

It looked like a new United team and older players were being moved on to create space in the squad for the exciting young players. Brandon Williams was beginning to be included in the first team and Luke Shaw was in the best form of his career. Club captain Ashley Young was sold to Inter Milan in January and Maguire was chosen as Solskjær’s captain to lead the club forward.

Manchester United finished the season in third place and were therefore back in the Champions League for the following season. A tough group including Paris-Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig saw the Red Devils finish in third place and drop into the Europa League, an opportunity for Solskjær to win his first trophy. Despite the poor form in the Champions League, United were top of the Premier League at the beginning of 2021 and looked set to challenge Guardiola’s Manchester City for the league title.

The Red Devils were finally turning a corner and challenging for the league, all with Maguire as the captain. Until 9 May 2021 away at Villa Park.

The Injury that Ruined Maguire’s United Career

After topping the table in early 2021, Manchester United drew too many games and therefore put themselves out of the title race. However, Solskjær’s team continued to impress in Europe and progressed to the final after impressive victories over Granada (4-0 on aggregate) and Roma (8-5 on aggregate).

All the success had been built on a solid defence that was hard to break down before the creative players could hit the opposition with quick and dangerous attacks. Victor Lindelöf usually partnered Harry Maguire but this partnership was broken up at Villa Park in May 2021.

In the post-match press conference, Solskjær spoke about the captain’s importance to the team and how much of a miss he would be:

“Harry has been excellent and it’s almost unheard of the minutes he’s played without missing out.” “I don’t know how bad it is.”

Maguire didn’t feature again for United that season and the Red Devils went on to lose the Europa League Final on penalties 11-10 to Villareal, possibly showing they missed the captain’s leadership.

Solskjær was the man who showed his faith in Maguire but he was dismissed in November 2021 after losing away to Watford, following a run of poor performances and results. The English central defender became the target of abuse and was used as a scapegoat for the remainder of the season, despite how impressive he was during the previous year.

How Important Is Harry Maguire to Ruben Amorim?

During Erik ten Hag’s time at Manchester United, Maguire wasn’t seen as a starter; however, under Ruben Amorim, the change of tactics and formation could be the perfect way back into the team. Amorim’s system is a 3-4-2-1 formation and the Portuguese coach has said how suited Maguire is to his team, especially due to his leadership qualities:

“Harry Maguire, we are going to trigger our [one-year contract extension] option.” “I spoke with him [Harry] this morning and I told him he has to improve his game on the pitch. We need him a lot and he also needs to improve as a leader.” “When you look at our team, we are starving for leaders on the pitch. He is a leader; he has to improve that part; he has to improve his game so we are happy to continue with Harry.”