Harry Maguire believes he is getting his reward for rejecting a transfer away from Manchester United after regaining his place within the crew.
The £80m centre-back misplaced his spot within the facet final season, was stripped of the captaincy by supervisor Erik ten Hag in the summertime and United then accepted a £30m bid from West Ham.
But Maguire opted to keep at Old Trafford and has grow to be Ten Hag’s first-choice central defender. After Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez had been the popular pairing final season, the England worldwide is now retaining the World Cup winner on the bench.
The 30-year-old didn’t begin any of United’s first seven video games of the season however has now begun every of the final eight and Maguire feels he was proper not to stop Old Trafford and to undertake a affected person method in tough occasions.
He stated: “I am really enjoying my football and I really enjoy playing for this club. I was willing to stay and fight for my place and we have four or five top international centre-backs at this club and the competition for places is really high.”
Maguire was dropped by Ten Hag in August 2022 after a 4-0 defeat to Brentford and had a stop-start season after that however believed his personal performances had been effective.
“I just didn’t play as many [games] as I would have liked,” he stated. “On the other hand, Rapha and Licha [Martinez] were playing brilliantly and kept numerous clean sheets. I had to bide my time and be patient. I had two or three opportunities last season to get a run of games but I broke down with illness, I broke down with injuries twice, so I never got the rhythm and never got the run of games that I could prove myself to the manager. I have got that now.
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“But I started 16 or 17 games last year and felt like my form was there. There was a lot of talk about me because I wasn’t playing games, but that is the way it is. I was playing well for my country, went to the World Cup and played well and always thought my form was there.
“But I am up against some top, top-level centre-backs and last year they were playing amazing, so I didn’t get as many opportunities as I would have liked. This club demands competition for places and that is what we have in my position.”
