Harry Maguire's career at Man United was a truly sinister wave, sometimes at the top, sometimes at the bottom. In nearly a year, having gone through the darkest stages, the English midfielder has now been hailed as one of Man United's heroes.
The header against Lyon in the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final was the clearest proof of Maguire's perseverance and professionalism. That explosive moment was the crystallization of the days of perseverance, overcoming all criticism to once again step into the light.
Maguire is over 32 years old and the peak play time is not much. The 3-4-3 system will be maintained and gradually by Ruben Amorim, the location for Maguire is no longer available when the speed is what will be prioritized. However, Maguire now has a new role, that is ... the key striker. This is recognized by Ruben Amorim itself. The Portuguese strategist shared that once the stalemate team, Maguire will be pushed to the cluttered stone in a flash because he is the only one who has the ability to fight to score in the "Red Devils" squad at this time.
Before scoring against Lyon, Maguire brought Man United 1 point against FC Porto in the Europa League qualifying round, also with an aerial match. Then in the fourth round of the FA Cup, the English midfielder had a strong head to eliminate Leicester. Next was the win over Ipswich in the Premier League in the context of M.U having only 10 players, which was also a header to bring home 3 points.
From the game of being criticized at Old Trafford, Maguire is becoming a hero, the one who saves The Red Devils' terrible attack when they are at a dead end. Athletic Bilbao will certainly have to be very wary of the English star when the two teams face off at San Mames tonight.
"In a way, he is like an experienced centre-forward. Maguire is like saying, just pour the ball here and I will be there at that point. As Maguire approaches the box, he has the courage to overcome everything.
If you pour the ball well into the box and your team has Harry Maguire ready, a goal can come at a very high rate. At that sensitive moment (scoring against Lyon), he kept his cool to complete his shot. It was not until Maguire scored that he celebrated so emotionally" - Mike Phelan, former assistant of Sir Alex Ferguson shared.
Under Ruben Amorim, Maguire is Man United's top scorer, averaging 3.1 goals per 90 minutes. Not only defensively, this index is the basis for Amorim to arrange Maguire to play as a center forward when Man United need him to shine.
Ruben Amorim is not the first to test Harry Maguire as a centre-forward. In November 2022, Erik ten Hag experimented with this method when Maguire was about to pair Ronaldo as a striker in the match against Real Sociedad with 7 minutes left. Last season, in the FA Cup match against Liverpool, Maguire also had a few minutes to play properly as a striker.
In the context of Joshua Zirkzee being injured for the rest of the season, Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho are still too bad, it is unknown that once again "in the virtual center" Harry Maguire was named Man United's hero against extremely difficult opponent Athletic Bilbao.
