Manchester United Season Ending Review: Harry Maguire

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It is time for our fourth season ending review and the fourth player in the line is Harry Maguire. After David de Gea, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly, it was turn for our number four, Phil Jones, however he did not play this season whatsoever, therefore we have to skip him this time. It is Harry Maguire’s turn and we will be looking at what kind of a season our captain has had in 2020-21. It was a hectic campaign and he probably felt that the best, with the sheer volume of games he played.

Overall Numbers

Harry Maguire has made 52 appearances across all competitions this season. He had spent 4653 minutes on the pitch in total, playing in 34 Premier League matches, six in Europa League and five in Champions League. There were also four FA Cup appearances and three in League Cup. If it were not for his ankle injury at the latter stages of the campaign, that number would have been closer to 60, considering Maguire missed the last four Premier League matches and also did not come on from the bench in the Europa League final. Maguire scored two goals too, in a 4-1 win against Newcastle and 2-1 loss to Sheffield United.

In terms of his underlying metrics, they all show Maguire was among the very top centre-backs in the league. His stats are truly elite, concidering he was very prolific with 5.65 progressive carries per 90 minutes, putting him in the 94th percentile. His volume and precision of passing was also at a very high level, as well as aerial duels won (4.23 per 90) and he was basically the best in terms of total shots per match, averaging 0.93 per game. That is truly staggering for a centre-back. Maguire also did well in terms of touches made in opposition’s penalty area (incredible 1.50 per 90) and his 1.66 interceptions per game were also very high output. He did not have the need to pressure often and he is very low in numbers in that regard, as well as tackles, considering his pretty clean style of play.

Consistency Is Key

Maybe some Man United fans were not happy with some of Maguire’s performances and there were definitely moments when he struggled, but overall, he was very consistent throughout the campaign. Another important part of that consistency is that Maguire is making his centre-back partners play better and with more confidence, which was especially obvious when he was not part of the team in the last few games of the season. Maguire is still not among the elite European centre-backs, but with an upgrade alongside him, he might find another level to his game.

Conclusion

Harry Maguire has proved to be a very good player for Manchester United and a good character in the team. He is the leader now that he is the captain, but it will be interesting to see how the Englishman would fare with a better centre-back next to him. Maybe then we would see the best version of him.

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