Erik ten Hag said it is up to Harry Maguire if he leaves Manchester United this summer after admitting that the dropped captain is unhappy with his situation.
Maguire started only eight league games after losing his place following August’s 4-0 thrashing at Brentford and is Ten Hag’s third-choice right-sided centre-back, after Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof.
England manager Gareth Southgate has described Maguire’s situation as “concerning” and suggested it will be hard to continue to pick him if he does not get regular first-team football.
Ten Hag said he is keen to keep the £80m defender, who has two years left on his contract, and it will be Maguire’s choice if he moves now.
“No one would be happy with this situation,” Ten Hag told the Times. “He is not as well. He trains always on best levels, so with 100 per cent effort. So he handles that situation well and he’s in that manner and in his captaincy he’s important for the squad. Let’s say I’m happy he’s here and when we needed him he did his job. But it’s also a decision he has to make.”
Ten Hag also said that David de Gea may be on the bench at times if he stays at Old Trafford. The goalkeeper’s contract expires in the summer and the Dutchman reiterated that both club and player are keen for him to re-sign – but warned he may omit the Spaniard at times.
The manager said: “I will not say he’ll always be my No. 1 because in a club like Man United there must be competition in all positions.”
Ten Hag insisted he is not satisfied with United’s season, despite finishing third in the Premier League, winning the Carabao Cup and reaching the FA Cup final.
He explained at United’s annual awards ceremony: “After the start of the season, and then where we came from – we are happy, we are [going] in the right direction, but satisfied? No, we are not. We have to do better, that’s always the case. We have a foundation, we have a good base but we have to do better.
“We want to go higher up, we want to increase our levels and we want to compete for the top two. So we have to demand more and increase our levels.”
Marcus Rashford won the Sir Matt Busby award as United’s player of the year after scoring a career-best 30 goals this season. The forward was also named players’ player of the year while Antony won the prize for best goal for his spectacular winner against Barcelona in the Europa League.
