From losing the club captaincy to incurring a calf injury after winning back a place in the starting 11, Harry Maguire has endured a particularly challenging tenure at Manchester United.
Despite all of his struggles, the centre-back’s commitment to the club appears to remain unwavering. While Maguire was a key member of United’s starting line-up under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, even becoming the club captain, life rapidly changed upon Erik ten Hag’s arrival at Old Trafford.
Almost immediately, the Englishman was phased out, with his captaincy stripped and his place in the starting 11 taken up by the highly effective partnership of Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane.
At the start of this season, Maguire appeared to be in for the same struggles as before, however, this soon changed when Ten Hag found himself faced with a mounting injury crisis.
With the likes of Martinez and Varane out through injury, and Victor Lindelof struggling to remain fit as well, Maguire became an essential member of the defence, providing the club with much-needed relief and in fact proving that it would have been a mistake to sell him to West Ham United – as had appeared on the cards during last summer’s transfer window.
Following some impressive displays such as the 3-0 Premier League win over West Ham, a 2-1 victory over Chelsea, and the iconic 4-3 FA Cup extra-time win over Liverpool, interest in Maguire remained strong at the London Stadium, with David Moyes reportedly still wanting to sign Maguire this summer.
Since then, it has been a constant unknown whether Maguire would remain at Old Trafford beyond the end of the season.
Despite reports claiming that he would be offered a contract extension due to his experience and ability to mentor upcoming talent, other reports have suggested that he may just depart the club for £20 million as part of Ineos’ planned overhaul of the squad.
Regardless of what the truth may be, Maguire’s convictions have appeared to remain consistent.
Last summer, it was reported that the club would need to pay Maguire £10 million in order to convince him to depart for West Ham. Still, he refused to budge, clearly intent on remaining at Old Trafford. This summer, it seems as if Maguire’s mind has not been changed.
The Sun reported that Maguire is “desperate” to remain at United next season regardless of who the manager may be. The British newspaper claimed that the England defender will have talks with the club leadership during the summer in an attempt to convince them to keep him at Old Trafford.
With Maguire included in England’s Euro 2024 squad, he may yet have a chance to prove himself on the international stage to convince United to keep him next season.
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