Harry Maguire will not play in the Manchester derby on Sunday afternoon - and should Jamie Carragher have his way, the England defender may not pull on the famous Manchester United shirt again. Maguire continues to divide opinion like no other at Old Trafford and beyond.
Even if injury had not intervened, the £80million captain would have almost certainly been named on the bench against Manchester City, as Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez do their best to tame Norway sensation Erling Haaland. So many defenders have failed before them, but will the United pair succeed?
Having been ruled out through injury, Maguire will be heading and kicking every ball from the stands. It has got to the stage now where even the most vocal anti-Maguire observer would admit the player needs a little bit of luck - or perhaps guidance - from somewhere.
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Maguire was given the backing of Gareth Southgate while he was on England duty. However, mistakes beneath the famous arch at Wembley against Germany saw him come under the microscope once again, and Carragher was among the most scathing pundits when writing in his Telegraph column.
Carragher wrote: "My question to Maguire is: do you have that same fury in you? Too often, it looks as if the weight of the world is on his shoulders, like he's a startled bunny more than the authoritative centre-back he was.
"I think it's too late at club level. I wrote last year he was fighting for his Manchester United career. He needs this to be his final season at Old Trafford and start afresh. Now it's England's problem. When I watched Maguire in these last two games, I felt sorry for him.
"That's not a good look for any sportsperson. Sympathy will not get him back where he was two years ago."
While Carragher's words are harsh at best, one man who disagrees with the former Liverpool man's stance is United boss Ten Hag. The Dutchman recently said of his captain: "First of all, I have to coach him, and I have to back him, but I back him because I believe in him.
"In the period I worked with him, pre-season it was good, it was really good, training and in games, so then he fell out, but it's also to do with the good performances of the centre-backs who playing now.
"I can see the qualities and even after he wasn't in the team he trained really well and more importantly the quality was really there. You see from his career, almost 50 caps for England, [playing for] Leicester and Manchester United he's performing really well, what you see is high potential."
Ten Hag added: "And then it's about him, the players in the dressing room, the coaches, the manager believe in him. That's what I told him, I'm sure he can do it and he will turn it around. I'm convinced of that."
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