Man Utd benchwarmer but England star: What is Harry Maguire's club future?

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 10 Jan 2023 17:56 GMT
• 4 min read

Harry Maguire has been dropped at Manchester United but is proving one of England's best players. What will be his future at club level?

Maguire joined Man Utd from Leicester for £80 (€87m) in the summer of 2019 - a world record fee for a centre-back - and was made club captain by then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer just six months later.

Maguire has kept the captain's armband since Erik ten Hag arrived at Old Trafford in April, but he has been increasingly benched nonetheless, with Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez emerging as the Dutchman's first-choice central defensive partnership.

READ: Why Harry Maguire is fantastic for England and a flop for Man Utd

Maguire had started just three Premier League games for United this season before the World Cup. He has already played one more match than that in Qatar as England have won four times, keeping three clean sheets in the process.

"We have a good strength in depth in that central defence at my club, but I'm going to fight to get back into the team because I don't like not playing," Maguire said ahead of the Senegal game on Sunday, which England won 3-0.

"I'm in good form. In the last few games for Manchester United, I've played well in them and won both of my last two games. But I've just found myself out due to the centre-backs there playing well and they're excellent players."

Varane and Martinez are unlikely to decline, at least in Ten Hag's estimation, anytime soon, though. Maguire was playing with Varane injured, and now the Frenchman is fit and firing with the World champions, Maguire's club future might lie elsewhere.

READ: Mbappe, Maguire and the World Cup Team of the Group Stages

Where could Maguire go?

Maguire was linked with Manchester City before joining United in 2019, but it is unlikely his international rejuvenation has been enough to tempt the English champions, but Chelsea and Barcelona were each linked with moves in the summer.

Both are in the market for a centre-back who is comfier playing on the left of a central-defensive partnership, if not a back three.

Kalidou Koulibaly hasn't convinced since his €38m move from Napoli to Stamford Bridge, while the incumbent in the role at Barca, Gerard Pique, retired last month.

Maguire's control can sometimes look clunky, but he still has the ability to pull off a Virgil van Dijk-esque diagonal pass and he offers plenty in both boxes, winning three aerial challenges per 90 minutes over the last year and averaging one shot-creating action per game.

His transfer fee might prove an issue for the latter, but the player who once cost €87m is now rated at €33.6m by Football Transfers' in-house algorithm, so he wouldn't necessarily break the bank for others.

Gary Neville recently tipped the 29-year-old to recover his Red Devils career. "I think he will come through it at United," he said. But as Gareth Southgate has proved this again this winter, Maguire can thrive when he feels the trust of his coach, and it might be time to find a new one at club level.