by Harry Maguire’s problem – and he has colored his situation for some time – is that many supporters want the England team to be selected in clubs. Not how Gareth Southgate works, at least not entirely. The England manager emphasizes how his players have performed for him, based on what he can see directly. Critics call it excessive loyalty. Southgate sees it as basic logic.
Maguire’s exploits at Manchester United are well known. For him, 2022-23 was a losing season at club level where he started just eight Premier League games and slipped to the bottom of the central defensive order, which is where he has started the current campaign. In March 2022, he heard his replacement in United’s Champions League away game against Atlético Madrid cheered by some of the Old Trafford support, which certainly had an impact on the Wembley crowd in his next England game – the friendly against Ivory Coast. Some of those present booed him.
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Southgate has always stood by Maguire, earning him 62 England caps, the first in a World Cup qualifier for Lithuania in October 2017. Back then, Maguire had just moved from Hull to Leicester. Only Harry Kane, with 72, has won more caps under Southgate. It’s no surprise to hear that Maguire would like Southgate to continue in the role, especially if England do well at Euro 2024. ” he says.
Maguire can’t help but wonder if there is something else at play in the endless debate over his place in England’s starting XI, which he is set to replay in Saturday night’s Wembley friendly against Brazil. It’s about where he plays his football club and, perhaps, United’s ability to polarize opinion.
“I think different clubs scout players differently and the fans have a big element when they see it [Southgate] picking a squad,” says Maguire. “I could be playing for Leicester and have a bad game and six good ones, a couple of bad ones and everyone would think I’m in great form. If I did that for Manchester United, that’s not how it happens. Every goal we concede is analyzed and scrutinized.
“There are cameras everywhere and you only have to look at the Man United players who have played for the country before. The club gets so much scrutiny and people talk about it that I think every player that has played for Man United and played for the country has come to a time when they have played for the country and not people were happy.”
Mag Uidhir is told that David Beckham is perhaps the clearest example. “Beckham had a lot,” he says. “Even Wayne [Rooney] Many things were said and he was one of the greatest players to ever play for his country. But listen, he is an integral part of football and playing for such a historic club. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Maguire’s theme is mastering the big moments. There is no time when that is not necessary at United and it applies equally to England, with Mag Uidhir seen as the final piece of the puzzle ahead of the European Championship in Germany this summer.
England were unbeaten in beating Italy in the final of the last Euros and reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals of the World Cup under Southgate. The talent and experience is there. Now, according to Maguire, it’s all about the finer details.
“I feel as a group we are ready to win,” he says. “If you asked every single player in the squad they would say they are expected to win the competition. However, we understand that it’s hurling football and if we’re going to win the Euros, you’re probably going to have to win a penalty, so you have to be prepared for that. You will have to score from set plays, defend set plays.
“The football competition is built on great moments. Against France at the last World Cup, that quarter-final could have gone either way but it went their way. We have the players to produce the big moments. We have to be mentally prepared so that we make these moments ours in this tournament.”
Increasingly – and almost under the radar – Maguire did so at United. It was hard to imagine a more trying start for him, with the nadir coming on 12 September when he scored an own goal in England’s win over Scotland and was a merciless barrage from the Hampden Park crowd.
Fast forward to last Sunday and United’s FA Cup win over Liverpool. Maguire was just back from injury but when Erik ten Hag introduced him as a substitute, he ended up relying on him as one of the two recognized defenders on the pitch. An epic tie could have gone either way; he went to United.
The turning point for Mag Uidhir came as a bit of an injury and Ten Hag made his first league start of the season against Brentford on 7 October. Maguire set up the winner for Scott McTominay in stoppage time and would go on to play every minute of every game thereafter until pulling out of the Champions League final against Bayern Munich on 12 December with a groin injury.
Ten Hag often preferred him to Raphaël Varane during the sequence – a situation that was unimaginable early in the season. After Maguire regained fitness after seven weeks out, he soon regained his first-choice status.
A minor injury would set him back before Liverpool’s Cup final but when Maguire now talks about his challenges, he means “overcoming” them. In other words, in the past tense. It is not so naive to consider it a permanent state of affairs. For now, though, as Maguire always believed it would be, the background noise has subsided.
