Harry Maguire has been warned that he still faces a tough challenge to break back into the Manchester United starting XI despite his impressive World Cup with England.
The Red Devils centre-back rewarded Gareth Southgate’s faith in him by helping the Three Lions progress to the quarter-finals in Qatar. He started all five games and helped keep three clean sheets despite featuring just nine times for his club this season, with only five starts.
His turnaround on the international stage was impressive, but Maguire has been told that he still faces a frustrating issue on his return to Old Trafford, even if Erik ten Hag has backed him to salvage his United career.
Ten Hag has stressed that there is a spot for Maguire at Old Trafford as long as he has the appetite to fight for it, but former Red Devils defender Mikael Silvestre has highlighted one key issue standing between the centre-back and a revival.
Speaking to bettingexpert, he said: “England are out and [Lautaro] Martinez and [Raphael] Varane are still in the World Cup, which shows the level of competition he’s at. It’s been very positive for Harry to go away and play in the biggest competition on earth.
“At the big clubs, you’re competing in every position. Centre-back is a position in which managers don’t rotate players. If Harry was a midfielder, winger or striker, he would have gained more game time.
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“Either you play or sit on the bench. There will be competition between now and the end of the season and he has to take his opportunity. He will be given time to play and it’s between him, Martinez, Varane and [Victor] Lindelof, which is high competition for places.”
Varane, already a reigning World Cup champion, has started the last four games for France and is gearing up to take on Morocco in their semi-final on Wednesday as Les Bleus bid to lift back-to-back trophies.
Martinez has played a less important role for Argentina but two of his four appearances have come as starts, including the full 120 minutes against Netherlands in the quarter-final last Friday.
Should both sides win their respective semi-final clashes, then United will have their two first-choice centre backs competing in a World Cup final, whereas Maguire only made the quarter-finals.
There is no doubting Maguire’s turnaround in form with England but he still has two teammates who are keeping him out of the United side and competing on the biggest stage in football, showing why they should remain in the team.
However, Maguire is destined to start against Nottingham Forest on December 27, with Varane and Martinez set to be afforded time off due to their involvement in the latter stages of the World Cup. That could be a career-defining period for the England stalwart.
