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Harry Maguire has admitted he doesn’t like his situation at Manchester United after losing his place in the team.
The captain has only begun 11 of United’s last 47 matches as Raphael Varane and summer signing Lisandro Martinez have become established as manager Erik ten Hag’s first-choice centre-back partnership.
And Maguire, who had been an automatic choice for former managers Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick since his £80 million move from Leicester, said he found it tough to be a back-up.
He said: “I’m not going to stand here and say I love it, or that I like it. I don’t. I want to play every game and I have done for the last eight years of my career. Also I have to respect the manager and his decisions and also respect how good the competition is at centre-back at this club. Of course I want to play every game and I’m sure if you spoke to our centre-backs in their roles, they will all be disappointed when sat on the bench.
“It is not like I’ve been frozen out or not been involved. I’m still playing a lot of games but obviously as a footballer I want to play every game. But I’m sure every other centre-back in the dressing room does as well and the manager cannot play all four.”
United have won their last 10 games that Maguire has started and the England international, who accepted his performance level dipped last season, believes he is back in form again.
Ten Hag praised Maguire for his display against Everton on Saturday and the 30-year-old added: “Every time I’ve been given an opportunity for the club this year and for country in the World Cup and qualifiers, I felt like I’ve been in a really good place and I’m performing really well.
“Last season was disappointing for everyone, there are numerous players and we could speak about individuals, myself included. The form wasn’t good. Everyone’s form wasn’t good and that comes together as a collective.
“This year I feel I am in a good place mentally, physically and every time I’ve started a game of football I’ve done myself justice and done well. But I also understand we have amazing centre-backs at this club. We have four top international centre-backs who could play at the top level. Myself, Licha [Martinez], Rapha and Victor [Lindelof] as well.”
