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Manchester United kept their 13th clean sheet of the Premier League season against Everton at the weekend as they cemented their place in the race for Champions League.
Club captain Harry Maguire made his sixth start of the league campaign and performed admirably with manager Erik ten Hag choosing to rest Raphael Varane for the tie against the Toffees.
The Dutch boss praised his skipper’s proactive play on Saturday and mentioned how much he has improved this season.
Maguire has struggled for minutes under ETH
But it is clear to see that Ten Hag does not see the Englishman as a guaranteed starter. Maguire has managed only 13 starts in all competitions this campaign as opposed to 35 last time around.
The Europa League quarterfinal first leg clash against Sevilla should see the manager revert back to his preferred partnership of World Cup-winners Varane and Lisandro Martinez.
The England international is effectively fourth-choice at the moment and has spoken about his lack of minutes and how he is still focussing on winning the two remaining Cup competitions this season.
The 30-year-old has been linked with an exit with numerous clubs interested in acquiring his services.
Recently, The Peoples Person had revealed that former club Leicester City have thrown their hat into the ring to reacquire their former star.
Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate has been one of his staunchest supporters but even he had admitted that Maguire needs to play more to remain in contention for future international call-ups.
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has indicated that the United skipper will be holding crunch talks with Ten Hag to understand where exactly he lies in the manager’s plans going forward.
Based on those discussions, he will take a call whether to remain at Old Trafford or not.
Maguire to meet ETH before deciding future
“Ten Hag recently publicly praised Harry Maguire and that is because the Dutchman really appreciates the English defender, especially as a top professional,” Romano said in his CaughtOffside column.
“Maguire has never created any problems – this is why he was not on the market in January. For the summer though, a lot will depend on what the player wants.
“As for now, Maguire is fully focused on the final part of the season and wants to win more trophies with Man United. He will speak to Ten Hag to decide his future at the end of the season.”
While Maguire remains the model professional, United would do well to try and recoup some of the €87million they paid for him back in 2019 and go for a younger, more agile centre-back next season.
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