HARRY MAGUIRE will have enjoyed this.
A start at Old Trafford and his name sung by the supporters.
Harry Maguire was solid as usual for England, with fans responding positively at the ground where he could be exiting at club level
Maguire acknowledges supporters after the Three Lions’ 7-0 romp
That is not usual. After all only 11 times last season was he on the team-sheet here in all competitions.
Supporters have long since seen a future with Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez as Manchester United’s new centre-back pairing.
Even Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw, when they play a three, have knocked him down the order.
To say it has been tough is an understatement.
The way he has handled himself through it all is an object lesson to younger players. To be fair it’s one to older ones too. Compare his behaviour to Cristiano Ronaldo’s . . .
Yet club captain Maguire has unfairly ended up as a byword for United’s travails and manager Erik ten Hag clearly doesn’t want him.
So this could well have been his farewell to Old Trafford as England thrashed North Macedonia 7-0.
How quickly it is forgotten what an improvement he brought to the United defence after his £85million switch from Leicester in 2019.
He will admit that his form in the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer/Ralf Rangnick season of 2021-22 was not his best, neither was anybody else’s.
But when you wear the United shirt the scrutiny is intense.
He needs to go for his own good. As England boss Gareth Southgate accepted himself, this situation can’t go on of barely playing for club and turning out for his country.
But it is for the Three Lions when he can rarely be questioned as the 30-year-old has earned 56 caps.
Only briefly has there been a wobble when the boos from United fans spilled over to those who watched England on a night to forget for him in a 3-3 draw against Germany in September of last year.
He was a stalwart in the march to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals in Russia.
He was named in the team of the tournament as England reached the finals of the previous Euros and was arguably their best defender at the last World Cup.
His team-mates appreciate him and he was part of a defence that didn’t allow a shot on target in the past two qualifiers as Malta also drew a blank on Friday night.
In contrast to his England status, Maguire ‘s Man Utd future is uncertain
His early challenge on Stefan Ashkovski as the visitors threatened brought congratulations from both John Stones and Jordan Pickford.
There is still a great player in there and with the Red Devils ready to accept in the region of £30m he will improve any number of Premier League defences.
It was almost painful to speak with him after this year’s Carabao Cup final win when he came on for a handful of minutes at the end and then shared trophy-lifting duties with Bruno Fernandes.
He talked about how proud he was to be part of a squad winning United’s first trophy in six years.
He spoke eloquently about his own battle to get back in the team.
The FA Cup final did not even offer him those few minutes, the battle is now lost.
He will be back at Wembley with England but he won’t be back at Old Trafford as a United player.
The next team to take him on might just benefit from that.
