Harry Maguire, Manchester United captain.
Harry Maguire will remain a first-choice player under Erik ten Hag for the upcoming season.
Maguire, like many, endured an underwhelming campaign last season. As a result, there has been much speculation about the Englishman’s Manchester United career.
The club currently have six senior central defenders at the club and Maguire faces competition from Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelöf, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, and Axel Tuanzebe.
Further questions surfaced after the club had confirmed the signing of Lisandro Martínez.
The manager appeared to have put his faith in Maguire last week, in announcing that he will remain as captain of the club. This was met with much objection from social media, but Ten Hag is in the best position to analyse the squad.
Despite this objection and the competition for places, Ten Hag has moved to stress that he will remain a first-choice player.
Speaking in Melbourne, the manager was pressed on whether Maguire would remain first choice:
“I think he is. He’s proved it in the past, but he also has to prove it in the present time and in the future,” he said, as per The Athletic.
“He has played 46 times for England. Harry is really impressive, and I expect a lot from him.
“But there is also internal competition and that is what a club like Man United needs. You cannot win with 11 players.
“We need a squad, especially this season with so many games. We have the Europa League, the Premier League, and the World Cup so we need a full squad with high-quality players, not quantity.”
The manager moved to reaffirm his decision in the captaincy and his confidence in such.
“It can help. I will support him everywhere I can. In the end, he has to do it by himself, and he has the qualities to do it. He has shown it so often in the past.
“I always see the captaincy as an issue that I dictate. The team building for me is an important point and I always talk about a group of leaders. The captain is a really important one and I’m happy with him.”
Attention now turns to a meeting with Crystal Palace in the latest pre-season instalment. Maguire, as always, will be under the microscope and it is imperative that we get behind him.
His actual comments sounded way more like his position is far from certain to be honest, and that internal competition will dictate who winds up playing the most.
More like ‘he was decent before, and I’ll hive him the chance to get back to that’ than any sort of declaration he’s bang on for a starting 11 spot.