6 years on from his signing, it has been reported that the former MUFC captain may be in line to finish his career at Old Trafford!
This is coming out from Mike Keegan and he says that "Manchester United have rebuffed approaches from clubs in the Premier League and Italy for Harry Maguire.
They have been told he is likely to extend his contract at Old Trafford and spend the rest of his career at the club."
Not news many were expecting to come out of the club given all the talk about Benjamin Sesko but interesting reports all the same.
Just on the striker situation, I do believe we'll get a 'Here we go' or Ornstein bomb soon regarding the player.
To be honest, I've said this many times before that I am NOT the biggest Maguire fan, have never been. I never understood the hype when he was bought and certainly didn't understand why we paid such a hefty fee of £80m for a decent Leicester centre-back.
He had his struggles in the first few years of his time at the club with the captain's armband perhaps playing a big role in those struggles. It takes a certain type of character to wear that armband and Maguire just wasn't it. To be handed it so early - just 5 months after he joined - made things even harder still.
Maguire had also been subjest to much ridicule throughout his time at Old Trafford. He was a popular meme over the years and was even given the nickname 'Slabhead' for reasons you know.
Personally, I never saw much of the jokes and memes about him to a point where people were calling it abuse. From what I saw, most of it was honest criticism for a player who wasn't as good as many had hoped him to be. Yes there was the occasional snide remark but evberyone gets these.
However, the fact that so many people mentioned the abuse he was receiving obviously meant that it was there. Maybe I just don't follow such people 🤷♂️.
I then acknowledged this to be true and while I felt he wasn't good enough, it was clear that there was something else that was causing his performances to deteriorate even more. It was probably because of this mockery.
All this resulted in him losing the United captaincy in Erik ten Hag's first season or rather, it was shared between him and now current skipper Bruno Fernandes for the second half of that campaign before the Portuguese became it's permanent holder in 23/24.
The armband weighing heavy on a player wasn't specific to Maguire as I do (and so do many others) believe that having that responsibility of being the leader of the team has resulted in Bruno's performances being inconsistent. He hasn't been that same player as he was in those first three seasons before taking over the captaincy.
Over time though, and after losing the armband, Maguire showed great mental resilience to overcome all these issues and improve his performances. Having the armband taken off him seemed to be a weight off his shoulders as there appeared to be more of a focus on his football rather than everything that comes with being the Man Utd captain.
Last season was for me, his best in a United shirt. As part of Ruben Amorim's back three, I found that the defender was a lot more comfortable with two partners instead of one and displayed performances akin to that of England when he was one of Gareth Southgate's standout defenders. They played a back three as well.
Clip via DexxterUtd.
His performances culminated in scoring that late winner against Lyon in the Europa League quarter final. Despite losing the final, this game will live long in the memory with Maguire's famous 'slabhead' getting United over the line when all hope seemed lost.
This formation change brought out his best attributes and in the end, even I felt that maybe that one-year contract extension from last year wasn't a bad option.
With all that being said though, I do feel like it's time to move on.
At 32 years old, he is coming towards the end of his career. He also isn't one of those older players who've been there and done it like a Sergio Ramos, someone who's won everything and will demand respect. If he were someone like that, maybe keeping him for a little longer wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Injuries are also becoming more of a problem for the defender. Since 20/21, he's had 10 injuries keeping him out for 53 games and 261 days for club and country. Three of those injuries came last season causing him to miss 11 games and 52 days.
On top of it all, the one area of the pitch where United don't need much reinforcements is defense. With all of Leny Yoro, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and young but promising Ayden Heaven, that means there are six centre-backs potentially ahead of Maguire. There are only three spots available in the team.
United are also not involved in Europe meaning that there will be significantly fewer games. There won't be a need for much rotation and if Amorim were to rotate, I'm not sure how likely Maguire is to feature.
With a wage of 190k-a-week, that is a steep price to pay for a 32 year old, somewhat injury prone player who is probably not a first team regular.
I wouldn't keep him. I believe he's part of the old regime and never really worked out at United. He's done as well as I would've expected for a player of his quality and it's time to move on.
I know he's become quite a popular player over recent years which is great considering where he was a few years back, but we shouldn't be sentimental about these things. Maguire has done enough at United and needs to start a new chapter in his career.
What do you think? Should Maguire see out the rest of his career at United? Or do you think he should move on?
Harry Maguire could potentially end career at Man Utd | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)