Manchester United legend Teddy Sheringham has pinned the blame for Harry Maguire 's struggles on his team-mates amid another dire season for the centre-back.
Maguire slipped behind Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof and even Luke Shaw in the pecking order. He has started just seven Premier League games under Erik ten Hag this term and has only played four minutes of football in the last three matches.
The £80million fee it took the Red Devils to buy Maguire from Leicester four years ago increasingly looks to be a major error. Ten Hag has made his unhappiness with the England international clear over the course of the season.
And his future at Old Trafford appears to be in doubt, with United looking to overhaul their defensive options. And Sheringham believes that there is little chance of Maguire being able to regain his starting spot.
"I think Harry Maguire ’s been hung out to dry a little bit at Manchester United. I think it’s a long road back for him to get his United place back. Whoever does get him, if he does leave in the summer, they’ll be signing a formidable defender," he told Lord Ping.
"Sadly, it looks like he will move on. He’s a player that has taken a lot of stick, which is really unfair in my opinion. Sometimes a player needs a new environment to flourish. I think he’s been at the club in a very challenging period.
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"For a while it looked like everyone was doing their own thing at the club – and none of the players were taking responsibility. Maguire always fronted up. The fingers that were pointed at him were very unjust."
The former United striker, who won three Premier League titles at Old Trafford, also believes that Maguire's team-mates have not helped him to succeed. Instead, he believes they could have done far more to protect him.
Sheringham pointed to legendary Red Devils defender Steve Bruce as an example of how Maguire could have received more support.
"I still think Maguire is a very, very good player," he added. "He's playing at the top of the game. I don’t think he has had a lot of help while he's been at Manchester United, he hasn’t been helped by the defenders around him and takes a lot of criticism.
"Whenever he's played for England, he hasn't let them down. Southgate trusts him as a key man in his defensive unit. I feel like Maguire gets exposed quite a lot at Manchester United.
"If you go back a few years and look at Steve Bruce, I bet you he would have been ripped apart if he was left one-on-one, but he had Gary Neville and Gary Pallister alongside him; they didn’t leave any gaps for the opponent to exploit. That’s what you do as a back four – you don’t leave your centre backs isolated."
