Manchester United’s Harry Maguire reveals that he would strip back VAR’s powers | OneFootball

Harry Maguire has given his thoughts on the upcoming vote among Premier League clubs about scrapping VAR for next season.

United, like most teams, have had a few choice words against VAR and especially felt they were the victims of some questionable calls in the first few months of the season.

Manager Erik ten Hag has also been a vocal critic of the number of penalties and decisions given against Manchester United in recent weeks as his team have dropped numerous points since Easter.

United are of course not the only team to feel hard done by when it comes to the technology as in fact, Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon critiqued VAR at length in an interview with Sky Sports after not getting a penalty at Old Trafford during the mid-week fixture.

Interestingly, Premier League clubs will have the chance to rid themselves of the technology should it receive enough votes on the 6th of June, when all 20 teams will vote on its future in the English game.

Wolverhampton Wanderers formally submitted a resolution, triggering a vote on the topic during the Premier League’s annual general meeting. For the resolution to pass, it will require 14 of 20 clubs, a two thirds majority.

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has also weighed in on the topic suggesting that he would keep VAR but strip back its power.

Speaking on the upcoming vote to The Sun he said, “I think it is going to divide opinion and a lot of people will want to keep it. Equally, the popular thing at the moment is to say get rid of it. It probably does need to be done better.”

“The automated offsides are coming in next season and that will improve it. It will make things quicker.”

Revealing his thoughts on the topic he claimed, “personally, I would keep VAR but for offsides only. I would scrap it for everything that is opinion based. Offsides are factual and not subjective.

“It is so difficult to lose a game on an offside goal when a player is two or three yards offside. Everyone makes mistakes, linesmen make mistakes, so that is why I would keep VAR for that.”

“But I would not have it for red cards, or penalties because even now, people disagree if a decision is right or wrong.”

The England defender went on to claim that dressing rooms are divided on the issue of VAR and that perhaps defenders may have different opinions from attacking players.

“Some players want to get rid of it. VAR offsides do kill goal celebrations a bit. In the back of your mind, players think whether or not it is a goal. For sure, I don’t want to see penalties decided by VAR – just let the referee make the decision.”

“There have been far too many soft penalties this season. Penalties decide football matches and are such an important part of the game. Obviously, I am a defender and I would say that. Strikers might say they want soft penalties.”

“We want our game to be a contact sport. We want the game to be aggressive. We want people to feel they can go in for hard challenges which are fair and not dangerous.”

It will be interesting to see what the Premier League clubs decide and which way United will vote. The decision will certainly have massive ramifications for the future of English football.

Want to be the first to hear breaking Man United news? For carefully selected, crucial updates, join our WhatsApp channel: https://bit.ly/United-Breaking-News.