Author: Amrit Santlani
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has given club captain Harry Maguire the freedom to choose his future. The Dutchman insisted that he would be happy to have Maguire in the team, but as the Englishman has only played 16 times in the Premier League this season, there has been speculation about the player’s future.
Maguire joined United from Leicester City for a world record fee of £80 million and has since fallen down the pecking order, with Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez being Ten Hag’s preferred defenders. Even when the star duo are injured, Maguire only appears sporadically.
Speaking about the situation, the former Ajax coach insisted that he would be happy to have Maguire in his team, but the final decision on his future will be made by the 30-year-old himself.
“No one would be happy with that situation,” Ten Hag said in an interview with the Times. “So he handles the situation well and, in this way and with his captaincy, is important to the team. He has great competition there [na zaga] with Raphael Varane, who is fantastic“, added the United coach.
Maguire’s time at United was marked by several high-profile errors. More recently, his own goal against Sevilla cost the Red Devils a place in the Europa League semi-finals.
“Let’s just say that I’m glad he’s here and that, when we needed him, he did his job. But it’s also a decision he has to make” said the Dutch coach.
Despite being the club’s second-choice player, Maguire has been an important member of the England team, playing all five games for his country at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and has also been included in the squad for the upcoming Euro qualifiers, but Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate is concerned about the defender’s lack of minutes.
Although Ten Hag remained tight-lipped about Maguire’s future, he insisted that there is no similar case regarding David de Gea, who will probably remain Manchester United’s first-choice goalkeeper. The Spaniard also made a serious mistake in a Premier League game against West Ham recently, but is close to agreeing a new contract with the Red Devils.