Maguire shows school of hard graft can work
MANCHESTER UNITED’S Harry Maguire returns to hometown club Sheffield United today, having shown you can achieve stardom without being mollycoddled at an elite academy.
Maguire, now 26, played 134 games for the Blades in League One and had stints at Hull City and Leicester before his £80million move to Old Trafford. And the England defender said: ‘For me, the best way to learn is by playing games.’
His manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer agrees, saying: ‘The academies are great, but sometimes you see a different type of player coming through the other route.
‘One of the dangers with the academies is everything is there for them. They don’t have to do anything. Do we prepare them for this man’s game?
‘Jamie Vardy is another example of finding your own way and making your own career. I have come through the back door myself and I like players with a different type of mentality.
Harry has come in and been different class on and off the pitch — as a leader, but also as a good person.’
Maguire skippered United in their last game against Brighton and is the natural choice for the United armband whenever Asheley Young is missing.
This will be his first league game back at Bramall Lane since leaving in 2014, though he was part of the Leicester team that won there in the League Cup in 2017.
A trip to Sheffield United is the type of fixture United need to win if they are to push for a top-four place. ‘We’ve put ourselves in a difficult position. We have done well against teams like Chelsea so for me we need to improve on games where teams give us a different challenge,’ said Solskjaer.
‘We have lost games we have dominated, but we haven’t found the openings. I think now, with Anthony Martial coming back, if we keep him fit, it gives us a big chance to claw back some points.’