Maguire is no longer an ordinary guy... he is living in a gilded cage

MAYBE you saw the footage of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez emerging from the restaurant where they had dinner in Barcelona together last week.

They chose a place where they could go straight from the restaurant into an underground car park and so the first the public and the press saw of them was when they were behind the wheel and pulling away. Two of the most famous players in the world and no trouble and no hassle. Clean getaway.

It’s the way high-profile footballers have to plan things. Maybe they fancied going to the Burger King near the Placa de Catalunya for old time’s sake. Or because it’s what normal people do. Or because they used to love a Double Whopper when they were kids. But they know they can’t do that any more. They’d get mobbed. They’d get hassle. There would be problems.

Those, sadly, are the precautions that most footballers have to take these days. It’s a shame that they can’t lead normal lives and have a few beers and a kebab like they once did.

So for those people raging about criticism of Harry Maguire for wanting to have a night out with his pals and his fiancee and his sister just like he used to do, I understand their point. It would be lovely if he could mix with other tourists on Mykonos like a normal bloke.

It suggests he’s a decent, down-to-earth guy because he wanted to. But he’s not a normal bloke. Not any more. He’s the captain of Manchester United. And when the captain of Manchester United goes out on the town on a Greek island late at night and his taxi’s late and other people have had a few and they scent celebrity and money and opportunity, trouble is going to find him.

The details of exactly what happened the evening when Maguire was arrested by police are still sketchy but if there was one thing that was encouraging about the interview he gave to the BBC’s Dan Roan on Thursday, it was that he appears to have learned his lesson. ‘I have always been really open,’ he said. ‘And I have seen a lot of things about security. I didn’t feel the need for that and it’s probably changed my mind on that. In the situation I found myself in, would it have helped? Yeah, for sure.’

What happened was a reminder of the price players pay for fame and fortune and the sacrifices they have to make. Maguire may not have realised it before but he is living in a gilded cage.