Manchester United legend and former captain Roy Keane has taken back his harsh criticism of his one-time successor at Old Trafford, Harry Maguire, after the defender’s performances for England in the ongoing Euros tournament.
In a time when Manchester United suffered so much criticism, Maguire became the poster boy for failure. Most of the club’s faults were attributed to him and things were believed to be going wrong every time he played.
Pundits and fans alike blamed this on Maguire’s pronness to error and also questioned his leadership which they believed was doing the team no favours. Many even compared him to Keane, stating how the Irishman would have worked to unite the team or give players a proper verbal thrashing to get them to sit up.
Keane, like other United legends, weighed in on the issue, with the former captain being especially scathing of Maguire having been a captain of the club in his days.
Keane has even criticised Maguire when he plays for England with his most scathing one coming when the former Leicester City man celebrated after scored a crucial goal for England in their World Cup qualifying match against Albania in September 2023.
“He thinks he’s shutting the critics up. But I think It’s embarrassing,” Keane said. “He’s been a disgrace the last couple months for Man Utd. He thinks if he scores there, he’s going to shut his critics up. Embarrassing.”
Maguire has won his critics over with strong performances in the past few months for both Man United and England. The Three Lions have especially been dire in the ongoing tournament but the 31-year-old has been one of the bright lights in Southgate’s squad.
While he has not received much praise, he has made Keane take back his previous scathing comments. The Irishman has now apologised and admitted that he reached out to the defender to repair any burned bridges.
“I was harsh on Harry Maguire,” Keane said on the Stick to Football podcast. “You hope to keep it to footballing reasons and obviously, we cover a lot of Manchester United matches and he was struggling at the time.
“But you also think about the mental health of players and I definitely crossed the line with Maguire.
“I remember one time I kind of mocked him a little bit and that is definitely out or order. I crossed the line and listen, I played the game, I know it’s not easy.
“But I’m also big enough that I apologised to him. Sometimes we pundits get it wrong too.”
