The centre-back has been mocked in the parliament of Ghana as well as every Premier League ground, but is now reaping the rewards for never giving up
Little more than two years ago, the Europa League felt like the straw that had broken Harry Maguire's Manchester United career. There appeared to be no way back for him after his nightmare displays in United's quarter-final elimination at the hands of Sevilla. But having already changed the narrative of his time at Old Trafford from disaster to redemption last year, Maguire has emerged as the cult hero of United's thrilling journey to this season's Europa League final, their most unlikely flagbearer as they head to Bilbao to face Tottenham.
Maguire's defensive contributions have been key to United remaining the only unbeaten team across all three European competitions, and yet it is his attacking contributions that have stood out the most and which make him Ruben Amorim's not-so-secret weapon against Spurs.
Now that he is a formidable force in both boxes and one of the most influential figures for United as they prepare for the match that could save their abysmal season, it is worth revisiting that harrowing tie with Sevilla in April 2023 which looked like being Maguire's last stand for the Red Devils. It certainly puts his stunning turnaround into context…
GettyShellshocked in Seville
Despite still being captain at the time, Maguire was on the fringes of Erik ten Hag's team heading into that tie with Sevilla. In some games he had even been demoted to the fifth choice centre-back, with Luke Shaw chosen ahead of him on the occasions when Ten Hag fielded a back three.
Maguire, though, was brought on for the injured Raphael Varane when United were 2-0 up against the Spaniards in the quarter-final first leg at Old Trafford. The Red Devils were coasting and looked to have one foot in the semi-finals, only for them to concede two goals within six minutes as Maguire was credited with the equaliser after turning the ball into his own net. He was desperately unlucky, as the ball bounced off Youssef En-Nesyri's head and then Maguire's to wrong-foot David de Gea. Maguire knew nothing about it, but it seemed to sum up his plight at the time: nothing would go his way.
Things got even more desperate the following week amid the cauldron of noise of the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, when Maguire passed the ball back to De Gea and was immediately intercepted, leading to En-Nesyri scoring in the eighth minute. The manner of the goal completely rocked United's confidence and they sunk to a 3-0 defeat and 5-2 loss on aggregate. Lisandro Martinez and Varane's injuries in the first leg was a big factor in their downfall, but more than a few United fans commented that everything had been going well before Maguire came on.
AdvertisementGetty 'Unacceptable' abuse
Maguire started just one more game that season and was an unused substitute in the FA Cup final defeat by Manchester City. He was, therefore, a firm favourite to leave the club in the summer, especially after Ten Hag took the captaincy off him and gave it to Bruno Fernandes. West Ham were the keenest suitors and United accepted a £30 million ($40m) offer, but Maguire refused to go. He was not going to let the abuse, which was at its height at the time, get to him.
As a reminder of how bad it got for Maguire, while many players are targeted on social media by supporters and pundits, almost none hear their name mentioned in parliament as a metaphor for the country's struggling economy. In 2022, Ghanaian MP Isaac Odongo compared his country's vice-president to the much-maligned defender, calling Maguire "the biggest threat at the centre of the Manchester United defence, tackling Manchester players and giving assists to opponents."
A year later, Maguire scored an own goal for England in a friendly against Scotland and was humiliated by the Hampden Park crowd. Gareth Southgate called out the abuse, saying: "I've never known a player treated the way he is. It's a joke. They've created something that's beyond anything I have ever seen." Maguire's mother even intervened, calling the treatment "disgraceful and totally unacceptable" as well as claiming "what Harry receives has gone far beyond football."
Getty ImagesChanging the narrative
Speaking before Wednesda's final, Maguire sought to play down talk of him being revitalised: "I think probably it was a six to 12 month period where my form wasn't as good as it had been in the previous two years where it was excellent," he told reporters. "I think people still talk a lot about this comeback and things like that, but it's been two years now that I've been performing at high level. It's been a couple of years now. I feel in a good place. I feel really comfortable at this club and my surroundings and the pressure that's involved in it. It's an amazing club and I'm really privileged and proud to be part of it."
After choosing to stay at United in the summer of 2023, Maguire pledged to "fight for my place" at United, and it is fair to say he won that battle. First he convinced Ten Hag and turned the previous situation upside down by winning his place back at the expense of Varane, who had kept him out of the team the previous season. Ten Hag called Maguire "a great leader, a very good defender, very comfortable on the ball", which was quite the turnaround considering he had taken the armband off him months earlier.
He also changed the mind of the Ghanaian MP Odongo, who apologised to Maguire in November 2023 by saying: "Today, Maguire has turned the corner, he's a transformational footballer." Maguire was one of United's most consistent players in a team severely lacking in it, but his redemption story got somewhat lost amid United's worst league finish in Premier League history and as he missed the FA Cup final triumph over City due to injury, which also led to him missing out on Euro 2024 with England.
Getty Images SportLethal weapon
Maguire was dealt a further setback in the summer as United signed two new centre-backs in Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, and the ex-Leicester City star thus struggled for gametime early in the campaign. Rumours began to circle in October, just as Ten Hag was about to lose his job, that United were willing to sell Maguire for as little as £10m ($13m)in the January transfer window.
He returned from injury to find a new coach in Ruben Amorim, and although the Portuguese rotated his squad frequently in his early days to assess as many players as possible, he soon realised that Maguire was a defensive rock who he could not do without as the defender delivered courageous and confident displays away from home against Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.
And so instead of selling him in January, United triggered the one-year extension in his contract. "He coped very well with his struggles,” Amorim said upon announcing the extension. "There are moments in the career of a player that are different. And when you look at our team, we are starving for leaders on the pitch."
While Amorim instantly saw Maguire's defensive quality, he soon noticed that he could be a real asset going forward, too. Having seen him score crucial headers against Leicester City and Ipswich Town, Amorim decided to deploy the centre-back as a centre-forward when he brought him on as a late substitute against Nottingham Forest in April.
United lost the game 1-0, but Maguire fashioned three chances in his nine minutes on the pitch and had an expected goals (xG) total of 0.6, more than Rasmus Hojlund had in his previous 15 appearances.
"Harry Maguire, when he is attacking set-pieces, is maybe the best player in the team," Amorim explained. "Inside the box, you are not a defender, you are a striker. Put one man who is really good in there to score the goal."
