Harry Maguire
The eerie silence of Manchester United games being played behind closed doors during the past year was regularly punctuated by shouts emanating from captain Harry Maguire. It’s been one of the sounds of the previous season and Maguire’s leadership credentials have become clearer listening to him instruct his teammates during games, as well as delivering a few home truths when required. Maguire revealed last season that he would regularly tell Shaw to attack down the left and he’s revealed why he is so demanding of his club and international teammate.
Harry Maguire said: “I have a great relationship with him off the field. I do put a lot of demands on him, I don’t accept him playing alongside me and playing safe and not getting forward. For Manchester United you’ve seen he’s a big attacking threat and I feel that when he’s flying up and down and creating chances for us it gives us the best opportunity to win football matches and for myself as captain that’s the most important thing. So I do put a lot of demands on Luke, I really expect him to push himself, because I know and I see every day what he’s got it, I see his attributes and his abilities and he has everything to be an amazing left-back. He’s really showing that now, he’s shown the Premier League all year what he brings to Manchester United and now he’s showing the world, I’m so pleased for him and I hope he keeps going, keeps improving and keeps pushing himself and I’m sure he will.”
Maguire has grown into the role of captain at United and admits he can be a demanding skipper at times.
Harry Maguire said: “I put demands on myself, Luke probably gets it a little bit more than everyone else because he’s stood alongside me for 90 minutes of the game. I feel like relationships in football matches are really important, I always feel like if Luke is playing well I’m playing well, because we’re so close together, we’re covering each other. It’s working well at the moment for club and country, we have a good relationship, we can get better and we can improve and we’re striving to do that.”
Maguire has seen the rapid improvement in Shaw first hand over the last 18 months and he credits a change in mindset with having a big part to play.
Harry Maguire said: “His ability has always been there, he has every attribute to be one of the best left-backs in the world. The main difference I feel within Luke is his mentality in terms of pushing himself and the demands he’s putting himself on to not just be a six out of 10 in each and every game, not play comfortably, but to really push on and be himself to be the best player on the pitch. There’s no reason he can’t do that with all the attributes he has.”
