Manchester United and England defender Harry Maguire told to ‘look elsewhere’ for new club

The Manchester United defender raised a few eyebrows when he was included in England’s 26-man squad for the World Cup in Qatar but quickly responded to those doubts with a string of fine displays as the Three Lions reached the quarter finals.

The Sheffield-born player has struggled at Old Trafford this season, appearing in nine games across all competitions with just five starts. Maguire joined Man United for £80m from Leicester City in 2019. He started his career at Sheffield United, making over 100 appearances before joining Hull.

He has fallen down the pecking order at Man United under Erik ten Hag and Friedel, who made 450 Premier League appearances for the likes of Liverpool, Blackburn and Tottenham, feels Maguire should consider moving somewhere he will be a regular starter.

“With Harry Maguire, it’s tougher. I mean, it's really difficult to say what he should do. You’ve started for England, you’re at Man United. Do you need to leave a club like Man United? I think there's a there's a whole host of reasons why a player like Harry Maguire should possibly look elsewhere,” Friedel told bookmakers.com.

"You know, first and foremost, the fan abuse and media abuse that he's got while at United, it's gone way over the top of what a sportsman or woman should get, I think we can we can agree on that.

"Harry Maguire is a very good defender, we've just seen it in the World Cup playing against the best. So, you know, perhaps he does just need to either go if he's not going to get in the team of Man United. If he does get in the team of Man United, the fans need to back him and the media needs to lay off him.

"If he plays poor poorly, you don't have to go after him on a personal level. I don't know Harry Maguire at all as a person, but he doesn't strike me as a bad person and the players in England team like him.

"So I don't understand why all of this negativity got so personal against him and because of that, I could understand why he might just want to go somewhere else and get a brand new beginning, and then continue being the very good defender that he is.”