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Man Utd captain Harry Maguire will not be guaranteed a start under Erik ten Hag because of the former Ajax boss’ style of play, according to reports.
Maguire has been heavily criticised this season for some of performances with the England international suffering during a terrible season for the Red Devils.
He made a number of errors defensively this campaign and often took the brunt of the flak for his team-mates despite most players underperforming.
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Not many people expect Maguire to leave this summer because of the £80m investment they made in the centre-back in 2019 from Leicester City.
But ESPN now claim that he could find himself behind Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof, or even a new centre-back, next season as they report he is ‘not even guaranteed to start under the new boss’.
The report adds that is ‘because of his lack of pace and Ten Hag’s tendency to play with a high defensive line’ with the Man Utd ‘squad split’ over whether Maguire should remain as captain next season.
Speaking at his first press conference as new Man Utd boss, Ten Hag said he was “looking forward to working with” Maguire next season.
Ten Hag said: “Next season is a different season, but he did a great job, he is a great player, he already achieved a lot with his contribution to Manchester United. I’m looking forward to working with him.”
And Man Utd legend Bryan Robson recently defended Maguire with other players also underperforming this season.
“I don’t know where people are coming from,” Robson told the Manchester Evening News.
“For me, Harry Maguire has been a really good player for Man United. Yeah, he’s been below par this season but most of the United players have been below par this season. I think he’s captain material and I know the lad well.
“He’s as good as anyone else within the club at being a captain. I sort of disagree with what the Man United fans are saying.
“For whatever reason, so many Man United players have underperformed this year and I would say that there’s only David de Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo that has played anywhere near what we expect from a Man United player.
“All the rest have underperformed, but Harry [Maguire] seems to get most of the flak.”
Maguire is not ‘guaranteed to start’ under Ten Hag with Man Utd team ‘split’ over captain (msn.com)