Donny van de Beek has launched a defence of teammate Harry Maguire after the Manchester United captain was inexplicably booed during their comfortable 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace on Tuesday.
Early in the pre-season friendly, Maguire's every touch was met with jeers from some of the 80,000 spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. After putting in an assured display and keeping a clean sheet during the 66 minutes in which he featured, the 29-year-old received Van de Beek's backing, as he praised Maguire's performance.
"I heard [the boos] as well," the Dutchman, who assisted Marcus Rashford 's fine goal to make it 2-0 early in the second half, admitted post-match. "I don't know really what happened. Today, Harry was playing really well. He was aggressive, got so many balls - that means he has a big personality. He has a lot of experience. That's positive, his performance today."
While not all Red Devils supporters are pleased to have Maguire continuing as their captain after his nightmare 2021/22 campaign, new United manager Erik ten Hag is certainly confident in the England stalwart's ability. "Harry has proved it in the past, but he has also to prove it in the present and in the future," Ten Hag explained after confirming that Maguire would keep hold of the armband next term.
"I will support him everywhere I can. In the end, he has to do it by himself, and he has the qualities to do it. He's shown it so often in the past. He's played 60 times for England. Harry is really impressive and I expect a lot from him. But there is also internal competition and that is what a club like United needs. You cannot win with 11 players.
"We need a squad, especially this season with so many games. We have the Europa League, the Premier League and the World Cup, so we need a full squad with high-quality players not quantity."
However, there's no guarantee that the former Sheffield United prodigy will stay the skipper for the entirety of 2022-23, as his new boss declared: "I always see the captaincy as an issue that I dictate. The team building for me is an important point and I always talk about a group of leaders. The captain is a really important one and I'm happy with him."
Maguire, who was even booed at Old Trafford and during England games on multiple occasions towards the end of last season, is committed to silencing his critics this time around and affirmed while on tour in Australia: "Listen, last year was disappointing. As an individual I didn't play well and as team we certainly didn't play well.
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"But a good career can last 10 to 15 years and you're never going to have every year where it's plain sailing and you don’t have any difficulties. You're going to have to fight, you’re going to have setbacks and last year was certainly a setback for myself on my career path. But it's behind us now and we look forward to the future and getting this club back to winning trophies, which is what it's all about."
The ex- Leicester centre-back will be hoping to avoid any more jeers when the Red Devils travel to Perth for Saturday's clash with Premier League rivals Aston Villa. A win would see United make it four victories from four pre-season friendlies.
