Harry Maguire has opened up on a former Manchester United manager, who he believes was underappreciated.
Harry Maguire’s career at Manchester United has been anything but straightforward.
Maguire moved to the red side of Manchester in the summer of 2019 after United agreed a record-breaking £80 million deal with Leicester City to secure his services.
Shortly after signing, the central defender was also named club captain following Ashley Young’s departure to Inter, a testament to his impressive leadership abilities.
With that price tag and the armband comes a lot of pressure, but Maguire has been very reliable for the most part, albeit he has also endured some extremely difficult periods during his time at Old Trafford.
Maguire opens up on Solskjaer
Ole Gunnar Solskjær brought Maguire to Old Trafford in the same summer as Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James. Speaking to Discovery+, Maguire revealed he believes his former manager is underrated.
“Ole was brilliant, I think Ole was so underappreciated,” Maguire said.
“He never got the recognition for what he was doing. It felt like, again, it was at Manchester United, if he was doing it at any other club he would have had recognition.
“It felt like everyone was waiting for the moment to kick him down, and he never allowed it. He was a real good manager, a real good staff around him with Kieran [McKenna] and [Michael] Carrick, a fantastic man-manager, he knew how to look after his team and his players.
“It felt like he never really got the recognition and it was a shame really, ultimately that third season we didn’t do enough, the balance of the team wasn’t what we had the previous two years, but I can’t speak highly enough of Ole.”
Solskjaer was one player away from success
Manchester United finished the 2020/21 season in second place, just 12 points behind local rivals Manchester City.
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The club were then strong in the summer market, signing Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and obviously Cristiano Ronaldo. An incredible window, but United ignored possibly the biggest problem in the team: the No.6 position.
Had United signed a quality player in that position, things could have gone very differently. Solskjaer didn’t win any trophies during his tenure, but it could very well be argued that he was the manager who came closest to finally winning the league again.
After that 5-1 win against Leeds United on the opening day, it felt like something special was brewing. Unfortunately, though, it was just a false dawn.
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