Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire has revealed his best position in the back-line and has thrown a light on his past performances on the field.
The English star was a regular player for the Reds under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick. However, his status has changed drastically since Erik ten Hag took over the reigns at Old Trafford.
The former Ajax boss has preferred to use Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane as his chief centre-back pairing, leaving Maguire on the bench.
It has been slated that the Dutch manager wants his defenders to play higher up the pitch and boosts the necessary pace. The 29-year-old has been deemed slow due to his inability to prevent opposition attackers from running into the box.
However, Maguire has now admitted that he loves to play more deeper in defense as it helps him to unlock his true potential. He also gave an example of the game against West Ham, where United were able to defend their 1-0 lead until the last minute.
As reported by the Manchester Evening News, the English centre-back said:
“As a centre-back, and a centre-back who likes to defend the box, it’s really – the last 20 minutes [against West Ham] – are really enjoyable. Although they are really tense, it’s something that me and Licha [Martinez] were speaking about, they’re the moments you want to play for.
“You want to defend, you want to hold on to that clean sheet, do everything you can to keep the ball out of the back of the net and I think we did it really well in the last 20 minutes. Obviously, we want to play a little bit better and keep the ball better than we did in the last 20-25 minutes.”
The 29-year-old has been unable to break into the starting XI under Erik ten Hag since past several months. Such has been the case that even Victor Lindelof has been choosen ahead of him in the pecking order.
After United were left to mourn for Varane’s injury at a crucial time of the year, Ten Hag was quick to bring in the necessary changes by introducing the Swedish defender.
However, Lindelof’s performance came under scrutiny after the club were comfortably defeated by Aston Villa last weekend in the Premier League. Maguire may favor himself to partner Martinez until Varane returns but the gaffer has been reluctant to play the English star in his back-line.
Ten Hag’s stance shows a glimpse of his strict behaviour with his players and his desire to have them play according to their strengths. Maguire may have to wait longer in order to stamp his name in the starting XI. However, it would not be easy for him, since the fans are happy with the current defensive set-up.
