England's Harry Maguire looks dejected after scoring an own goal and Scotland's first.
Credit: Reuters Photo
In football, there's oftentimes a moment when one can say 'cometh the hour, cometh the man' (one only has to think of Darwin Nunez recently coming on for a 10-man Liverpool that beat Newcastle away) but Manchester United and England's centre-back's recent spate of performances could almost make the faithful resort to a quip along the lines of 'cometh the man, cometh the meme'.
The quip might sound a little distasteful, but the world of competitive sports is often unforgiving, and the Premier League even more so.
Harry Maguire joined Manchester United after a fantastic season with Leicester City for a price tag of €87 million, making him the world's most expensive centre-back at the time. Everyone had high hopes for the Englishman, even managerial genius Pep Guardiola, who eyed Maguire as the replacement for Vincent Kompany (now the Burnley manager) until United outbid their neighbours.
However, since joining, Maguire's gaffes have taken social media by storm, turning many against him, and even resulting in a bomb threat against the player and his family in 2022.
While the United faithful have mostly given up on Maguire, focussing on their new favourite defensive duo of Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez instead, England manager Gareth Southgate has steadfastly stood by the centre-back, giving him regular chances during international fixtures.
The most recent one against Scotland, for the Euro 2024 qualifiers, saw Maguire score an own goal as opponent fans jeered. It led to Southgate snapping and remarking that treatment of the centre-back was a 'joke' and 'beyond anything' he had ever seen blaming their actions on Maguire's treatment back home. When Maguire was brought on at half-time, every pass he made was met by ironic cheers.
Maguire, however, brushed it off saying "Well, it pretty much takes the pressure away from my team-mates and puts it all on myself", and added that it lets his teammates play well, as per Independent.
"It is a little bit of banter and it is a hostile environment, coming away to Scotland. We wanted to put on a performance and we have dominated from start to finish. We have given them a goal, which is a bit unfortunate you could say", he continued.
Maguire labelled the environment 'hostile' but maintained he was 'happy to go with that'.
He asserted that all this did not get to him. Maguire said "No, I would not say I am a person who struggles with pressure mentally. I have been through a lot in the last couple of years and I have been Manchester United captain for nearly four years. You take a huge lot of responsibility and everything that comes with it and that is a lot of bad as well as good."
Looking at his time with United one might argue it has been more bad than good. From being Manchester United's captain to not starting games, Maguire has seemingly fallen out of favour with the Red Devils' manager Erik ten Hag as well, despite the latter's insistence that the defender is integral to the club's plans.
In numbers, Maguire, after joining United, scored an own goal in the 2021/22 season. In both the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, Maguire's errors directly led to one goal in each season.
However, these numbers don't always provide the larger picture that the Carrington faithful get to see every time the Englishman comes on. From being bamboozled often to ending up hurting his own teammates (one has to recall Paul Pogba left bleeding and Cristiano Ronaldo hit on the nose by Maguire's attempted header) the defender's initial good start with United soon turned sour.
There were talks of West Ham signing Maguire this transfer season, a deal that ultimately did not go through, for just £30 million, showing just how far he's fallen in valuation since he came over from the Foxes. At United, Bruno Fernandes wears the captain armband now, but Maguire still remains positive.
"Of course, my England career is a big priority. And so is my club career", he said, even amid worries that his lack of playing time for United might impact his chances in the Euro 2024 competition which Germany will host in June next year.
Staying upbeat, he added "Listen, at club football, I want to play games, I want to play football. The first four weeks were hard because it was one game a week and the manager didn’t select me but we have lots of games coming up now and I am sure I will play lots of games."