Harry Maguire believes that he still has a place at Manchester United and says that Erik ten Hag still has faith in him.
The United skipper has dropped down the pecking order since the arrival of Ten Hag and has started just five Premier League matches this campaign.
After the Red Devils two shock defeats against Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford at the start of the season, Maguire found himself out of the team.
Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez have forged a rock-solid partnership since, and the England international only found his way back into the starting line-up when Varane suffered an injury in the run up to the World Cup.
Even then, he was forced to rotate deputy duty with Victor Lindelof.
Maguire put in a strong showing at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, but on his return to Old Trafford found that even Luke Shaw was preferred to him in central defence when Martinez was unavailable.
But speaking to The Athletic, Maguire insists that there is still a role for him in the team.
“The lads who are playing and starting, Rapha (Varane) is playing really well, and we have seen his ideas, the manager, what he wants, and he does like a left-footed centre-back playing. It’s high competition for places.
“This is Manchester United. We want to win trophies, and big trophies and to do that you need competition for places and the manager speaks to me daily.
“He really respects me and believes that I am a top centre-half with all the attributes to play in his team but also he understands that the players who are playing – and I understand that the players who are playing – are playing very well.”
There is plenty of speculation that Maguire will end up leaving Manchester United in the summer, with his role at the club having been reduced so much.
Despite his insistence that Ten Hag sees him as a “top centre-half,” Maguire really only comes on late in matches to protect a lead when the opposition start resorting to an aerial assault.
The England star is imperious in the air, but it seems that the manager will never see him as a starter.
There certainly appears to be no way that Maguire will be able to displace Varane or Martinez, and if Ten Hag prefers to either use Lindelof, Casemiro, or Shaw at the back instead, then it is hard to see him staying past the summer.