Midfield legend blamed for Harry Maguire’s Man Utd crisis
Carlo Garganese
- 10 Sept 2023 12:50 BST
- 3 min read
Harry Maguire is not the problem at Manchester United.
That is according to former England centre back and Arsenal legend Martin Keown.
Maguire has become something of a figure of fun at Old Trafford over the past two years.
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And the centre back was again heavily criticised last week as United fell to a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal.
It has been a bad start to the season for United, who have already dropped six points in four games.
But Keown says the fault lies not with Maguire but with United’s central midfield, with Casemiro and Co. failing to protect the back four.
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What did Keown say about Maguire?
“Some of us talk about driving buses through football teams, and, I think you could do that right now with Manchester United,” Keown told talkSPORT.
“It's really the midfield that's the issue and Harry Maguire isn't necessarily the problem.”
United unsuccessfully tried to sell Maguire this summer, with a move to West Ham falling through due to personal terms.
Maguire has endured two miserable past seasons for Man Utd, ever since Euro 2020.
After an error-prone 2021-22 season, he finally lost his place in the first team during the 2022-23 campaign as manager Erik ten Hag preferred Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez as his centre back pairing.
When Maguire did play he often struggled, including two huge errors in the Europa League quarter-final defeat to Sevilla.
Maguire dropped to fifth choice in the centre back pecking order at United by the final months of last season, with left-back Luke Shaw even preferred to him in the absence of Martinez and Varane.
He has seen more game time this term due to injuries to the likes of Maguire, Martinez and Shaw.
Maguire joined Man Utd from Leicester in a world record deal for a defender in 2019.
