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In the coming years, Harry Maguire’s redemption arc will be studied. More immediately, he should be used as a template for his manager and many of his Manchester United teammates.
Maguire added to a growing catalog of great goals for United to seal a late winner The Red Devils’ first win at Anfield since 2016. No player has been in charge for nearly a year in Ruben Amorim, and no manager has been more clutch than the 32-year-old.
Winner at Anfield. Sparking Bedlam while completing a comeback against Leon. Another late header to beat his old club Leicester in the FA Cup. He almost buried Amorem at Grimsby with a last-minute equaliser.
They are just targets. A theme running through Amorem’s greatest victories is Maguire’s rock-solid presence at the back. In the manager’s first derby at the Etihad, Maguire pocketed Erling Holland. At Arsenal, in the FA Cup, he was outstanding. Twice now at Anfield for Amorim, the centre-back has been huge at both ends.
Maguire has been a talisman for this manager, and considering the depths to which he has recovered, he is an example to follow in the United dressing room more than anyone else.
Apologies are never as loud as disrespect, or in Maguire’s case criticism, ridicule and abuse. But if guards had queued up to give him his dues, the back of the line would have extended to Ghana and MP Isaac Adongo’s constituency.
He was the politician who fired a cheap shot from his nation’s parliament when Maguire was struggling for form. Yes, that’s putting it mildly. Maguire endured a truly miserable 2021-22, coupled with his arrest while on holiday in Greece. Maguire was a man and the world delighted in piling on his kicks.
At least Odongo went on record to apologize to Maguire – ‘Sorry’ isn’t that shareable on society, though, is it? – who accepted with grace and dignity, showed most of the two years.
Roy Keane also admitted that he took at least one rant against Maguire too far. But Kaine and MP Adongo were riding the biggest bandwagon of the time.
Maguire was besieged by pundits and the media as a figure of entertainment playing to his public. We were probably guilty somewhere along that line. And United fans – Players, even — cannot claim that he was above the treatment of his man under the siege.
On pre-season tours from Australia to America and back to Dublin, he was inspired all over the world. Stratford Enders will always distance themselves from the tourist and online fanbase, but Maguire was also ensconced at Old Trafford.
His club hardly helped. Eric ten Hague stripped Maguire of the United captaincy in 2023, which may or may not have been the right call, but it’s a blow many players’ egos will never recover from.
If it was too subtle from United, that summer, Maguire would get the message that he was no longer wanted when the club publicly agreed to sell him to West Ham. At this point, it was almost a mercy mission on Hammer’s part, and for anyone outside Maguire’s circle, a change of scenery and a fresh start seemed the only sensible choice.
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But Maguire has often shown such stubbornness and mental fortitude at Old Trafford in recent years. Unlike many former teammates who couldn’t escape the circus fast enough, Maguire repeatedly proved his commitment to not only personal redemption, but collective redemption as well.
Amorim cannot claim to have settled Maguire. Within half a season of rejecting a move away from United, he won the Premier League Player of the Month for December 2023 under Ten Hogs. But Amorim and Maguire have certainly been good for each other.
It helps Maguire that his manager prefers an abundance of centre-backs in a system we know won’t change. Perhaps the defender is also fortunate that his particular skills are back in demand as Premier League managers rediscover aerial routes to goals.
This includes Amorim. When he and United get really frustrated—an all-too-frequent occurrence over the past 12 months—Maguire is dispatched from his box to the opposition to act as Amorim’s reliable cross-magnet.
Don’t simply attribute Maguire’s aerial ability to size or height. The art of winning such pairings is in timing and judgment. Many coaches have for some time seen crosses and set pieces as seemingly boorish to prove their purity. Now, though, the bullet header is back. And few do better than Maguire, evidenced by the moments that will define him as a cult hero when he leaves Old Trafford on his own, his blistering bonus far beyond what he could reasonably have dreamed of two years ago.
