Harry Maguire: Heart of the defence

Unrivalled history and scrutiny combine to produce relentless expectation and pressure. This is a club where multiple players fight it out for one position and it’s easy to fall out of favour if your form or belief take a dip. 

But Harry Maguire has succeeded where others have not; standing tall and fighting fiercely to turn his fortunes around.

After appearing in just half of the Reds’ 62 fixtures across four competitions last term, and being replaced by Bruno Fernandes as club captain because of the Portuguese’s near-omnipresence in Erik ten Hag’s starting XI, many questions were asked about Maguire’s future here at Old Trafford. 

Yet, steadily over the course of this season the England defensive monolith has quietly reversed trends, hushed naysayers and stepped up as a key player when his club has needed him most. 

Beyond turning in a string of accomplished defensive performances to help tighten up United’s backline, Maguire also stepped up at the other end, superbly assisting Scott McTominay’s jaw-dropping winner against Brentford and heading in a Champions League winner of his own at home to FC Copenhagen. His positive influence has seemingly grown with every passing fixture.

Speaking ahead of last month’s win over Luton Town, Ten Hag was at pains to praise his no.5, stressing: “Harry is playing like we want to him play: very proactive out of possession, dominating his opponent, stepping in when necessary, reading the game, good covering but also in possession very proactive, stepping in, delivering good passes, switching. I am happy with his performance.”

The 30-year-old has rekindled his long-standing central defensive partnership with Victor Lindelof in recent weeks, with Lisandro Martinez sustaining a recurrence of a long-term foot injury. 

While the Argentinian’s absence was key to Maguire’s initial recall, the England stalwart’s emphatic response to being given the opportunity has secured his regularity.

“Since he got back into the side, I think Harry’s been our most consistent player,” says Reds defensive legend Gary Pallister. “He’s shown that he’s got a lot of resilience, a lot of character about him to bounce back because there was so much negativity around, that nobody would have blamed him if he had left to try and forge a new career. If you believed everything you read and heard, it looked like his days were numbered, but football works that way sometimes. You just need a glimmer of hope to get back in the side and you prove yourself once again, and that’s what’s Harry’s done.

“I’ve always thought he was a very good player. You can’t be doing what he was doing for England in tournaments and in his first few seasons at United and be anything but a good player. It’s weird to think about the furore that was built up around him among the press and pundits. As a centre-half, he’s very good at the bread and butter of the job: win headers, command your box and when the ball comes in you’ve got to be there to get them away, which he does.

“He’s got good composure. He’s comfortable on the ball, a talker, shouter, organiser and I’ve never seen him as anything but someone who has been unfairly pilloried. If you asked a lot of ex-pros who I meet every weekend at Old Trafford, I think they feel the same way I do. Fair play to Harry, because him and Victor have done really well in difficult circumstances.

“I think it’s been really difficult for the back four in general this year in terms of the team constantly changing. We’ve lost full-backs, lost centre-halves, changed our goalkeeper after 12 years. Martinez was a miss because he’s now the centre-half that really sets the tempo for the side, with and without the ball. He’s aggressive, in your face, got a great winning mentality, great ability on the ball, and we’ve lost him for most of the season so far.

“Throw in a lot of other defensive absentees and that back four was just changing every game at one point. When that’s happening, it’s no surprise that you don’t look as balanced or solid as before, and it all adds up to that feeling of not being watertight, which prompts you to concede more goals. Since Harry has come in, he’s really helped steady the ship and we’ve been looking more solid as a result.”

Martinez aside, Ten Hag is able to call upon four other senior centre-backs who have all captained their countries in the past, with Maguire and Lindelof joined by Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans in the Reds’ central defensive roster. 

Basic maths decrees that five players don’t fit into two slots and there will always be those frustrated at being sidelined, but the aim of building squad strength is to promote healthy competition for places, as Maguire recently noted.

“I played a few games last year,” he said, “and I felt like I performed really well in the games I played in, but I just didn’t play as many as I would have liked. On the other hand, Rapha and Licha were playing brilliantly and kept numerous clean sheets. I had to bide my time and be patient. I had two or three opportunities last season to get a run of games but I broke down with illness, I broke down with injuries twice, so I never got the rhythm and never got the run of games that I could prove myself to the manager. I have got that now.

“I am really enjoying my football and I really enjoy playing for this club. I was willing to stay and fight for my place and we have top international centre-backs at this club and the competition for places is really high.”

The spotlight at Old Trafford burns bright, as Pallister knows all too well. A mixed opening to life as a Red following his arrival from Middlesbrough in the summer of 1989 for a British record fee prompted endless pressure and remorseless scrutiny at the time. 

He overturned his tricky start before going on to enjoy nine glorious seasons and 10 major honours with United and, while the order of events in his career differed from Maguire’s, Pallister sees echoes of his own steely resolve in how the Reds’ no.5 has backed himself and turned things around.

“The expectations at Manchester United are huge,” says the former England international. “Things have happened in a different way for Harry because in his first couple of years everything went really well for him. He settled in, became captain and I don’t think anyone thought that was anything but the right choice. My problem was arriving for such a huge fee, as the most expensive of five players who all arrived for big fees, and I didn’t hit the ground running. It’s a lonely place when you’re getting that kind of stick, believe me.

“I was very fortunate to have some great characters around me in the dressing room and a great manager who would all try to take the pressure off me and give me the time to come to terms with the expectations, dealing with the fact that I was the country’s most expensive player. It was tough. I remember Georgie Best giving me stick in an article and I was just like: ‘Oh wow, no!’ because I remembered him as such a wonderful player and there he was, having a pop at me.

“But you can’t hide away from it: if you’re not playing well or you find yourself getting stick for whatever reason then it isn’t nice, but you have to accept it for what it is, try to put it behind you and prove people wrong. That’s what Harry has done. Nobody likes to see somebody getting the stick he was undeservedly getting, so I think everyone associated with the club must be delighted to see him back to his best and performing for Manchester United.”

Through all the relentless noise and stacked adversity, Harry Maguire continues to perform admirably, showing his remarkable character and standing tall in the heaviest of shirts.

This article was first published in the Chelsea edition of our official matchday programme, United Review, on sale here.