Harry Maguire, a former captain of Manchester United, has received harsh criticism at the club and international levels.
Jamie Carragher, a former Liverpool defender, thinks Harry Maguire’s decline at the club was facilitated by Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United.
After receiving criticism from fans in stadiums and on social media this week, Maguire has made headlines once more. Despite playing little at Old Trafford due to a lack of playing time, the former Reds captain was chosen for England duty during the international break.
Sadly for the center-back, his own goal against Scotland resulted even more internet jeering both during and after the game. Due to this, Gareth Southgate publicly criticized the behavior of fans and called media criticism of Maguire “a joke.”
Carragher addressed the criticism of Maguire in his most recent essay for the Daily Telegraph, and while he feels that choosing the defender for England does him no favors, he also thinks the center-back needs to leave to shed the baggage from his time at United. The Sky Sports analyst continued by listing two incidents at Old Trafford that damaged Maguire’s standing with the team.
He explained: “During preseason games in 2022 and 2023, Manchester United supporters booed Maguire. One of the more repugnant situations took place during the friendly match against Borussia Dortmund in July, when new signing Andre Onana began yelling at Maguire. In my opinion, he was dishonorably pandering to the crowd to win over United supporters.
“I watched that in shock, but it conveyed all that needed to be said about what went wrong. At that time, Maguire was still the club captain. He ought to have responded angrily, confined Onana, and demanded respect. Instead, he exudes the demeanor of someone whose confidence and power have completely crumbled.
When Cristiano Ronaldo made his comeback, rumors of power battles in the Manchester United locker room surfaced. At that point, Maguire’s defamation picked up steam.
Carragher may have found the Onana incident repugnant, but Maguire was actually relieved of his United captaincy on July 16; the friendly match against Borussia Dortmund was on July 31, thus he was not the club captain at the time.
