The making of Harry Maguire, an unlikely hero on the biggest stage
Defender has come long way from early days as Sheffield United youth player, writes John Percy
From standing with his mates at Euro 2016 to playing in a World Cup quarter-final, Harry Maguire is a man emboldened by having Three Lions on his shirt. Emerging as one of England’s most reliable defenders, Maguire has admirers at the Premier League’s top table yet still possesses the air of a man who has won a cereal-packet competition to play for his country.
Last week, he was interviewed for the Football Association’s Youtube channel and gave a word-perfect rendition of We’re On Our Way, the England soundtrack which has followed the team around Russia.
If the Leicester centre-half was not playing against Sweden today, he would probably be in Samara watching from the terraces with his parents, brothers Laurence and Joe, sister Daisy, girlfriend Fern and his mates.
Maguire epitomises the new era of “good tourists” flourishing under Gareth Southgate and personifies the change in mentality that is winning hearts and minds.
Craig Shakespeare, his former manager at Leicester and the man who signed him from Hull City, recalls a story from last summer which perfectly captures Maguire’s grounded personality.
“He was identified as our main transfer target and shortly after the end of the season he was on a city break in Majorca with his family and I went out to meet him,” Shakespeare told The Daily Telegraph.
“We had lunch and I told him the club’s plans, what I thought of him and how he could improve.
“I knew Leicester was the right club for him in terms of his personality. He really grew on me in the meeting, with all the questions he was asking about the style of play and Leicester as a club.
“I thought this kid could go far, so I was really pleased we could seal the deal because there were other clubs chasing him. He could have gone to Spurs but chose Leicester.”
He was signed for £17million by Leicester, and his performances at the World Cup continue the remarkable journey for the 25-year-old from those early days with the Sheffield United academy.
He supported city rivals Wednesday as a lad but joined United’s youth system and was quickly tipped as the one who would break through.
With that familiar towering build and an unerring range of passing, the teenage Maguire led United’s academy side to the FA Youth final in 2011.
Micky Adams gave him his debut at the age of 18, as a substitute on a Tuesday night against Cardiff, handed the thankless task of marking Craig Bellamy. Adams remembers an inauspicious start.
“It was at a time when a lot of senior pros had gone Awol and I was under a lot of pressure to play the kids,” he said. “In the first couple of minutes, the ball got switched across the back four and Harry fell over. It nearly cost us a goal but it didn’t affect his performance.
“He was always very comfortable on the ball. There were doubts about his mobility, because of his size, but he didn’t get caught out too many times.
“He was always going to be a player, it was just a case of what level he was going to get to.
“Am I surprised to see him doing so well? Possibly, but then again he’s a Yorkshireman like me and half the England team, and we always have good temperament!”
Maguire won three player of the