Harry Maguire threats, Erik ten Hag shrugs and Man Utd captaincy ‘yet to be decided’

Whichever way you look at that Sun back page featuring former Manchester United captain Harry Maguire, it is tremendously funny.

Fuming Maguire to quit United after captain axe

Worst. Threat. Ever. Has Erik ten Hag ever shrugged so hard?

They are desperate to sell him. Ten Hag could not have made it clearer that they are desperate to sell him. They would absolutely bloody love him to ‘quit’ (footballers can’t actually ‘quit’ because they are literally owned) as long as a club pays upwards of £30m.

Fuming Maguire to go quietly from United if they receive a big enough bid for their fifth-choice centre back after inevitable captain axe, more like.

Let’s get to the story…

FURIOUS Harry Maguire is ready to quit Manchester United after being stripped of the captain’s armband.

Manchester United really bloody hope he is ‘ready to quit’. Do we have to pretend that he holds any cards at all here?

SunSport understands the defender was ‘angry, shocked and upset’ when boss Erik ten Hag told him at the training ground yesterday.

If he really was ‘angry, shocked and upset’ then he has all the self-awareness of an oak table. He played less than January loan signing Wout Weghorst last season, did not get off the bench for the FA Cup final and played a few minutes of the Carabao Cup final. He was basically a non-playing captain.

Oh and every f***er knew last week that Maguire was going to be stripped of the captaincy. Well, every f***er apart from Maguire, it seems.

Maguire, 30, knows his time at Old Trafford is over with West Ham, Tottenham and Newcastle keen, while Chelsea are also considering entering the race.

Obviously that throwaway line about Chelsea is what makes the online headline, though Sun man Charlie Wyett hardly sounds convincing.

Mediawatch is not convinced either, particularly as Wyett exclusively told us last month that Maguire ‘could form part of Manchester United’s package to land Chelsea’s Mason Mount’. How did that one go?

The sum total of his evidence seemed to be that Mauricio Pochettino wanted to sign Maguire six years ago. We doubt he still feels the same about a 30-year-old with the turning circle of a tug boat.

Chelsea dagger
Where one leads others follow. So from ‘Chelsea are also considering entering the race’ comes…

‘Chelsea set to sign Harry Maguire from Manchester United in shock deal: report’ (FourFourTwo)

‘Transfer Gossip: Chelsea plot Man Utd steal for player Ten Hag has badly upset; Liverpool ready to snatch £50m West Ham target’ (Teamtalk)

‘Chelsea ‘debate signing’ angry Harry Maguire as Man Utd spark four-horse transfer frenzy’ (Express)

Regular Mediawatch readers will know that it’s the latter that has left us fuming like Maguire. Who the hell are they quoting with those quote marks? This one cannot be pinned on Wyett.

Agree to disagree
Elsewhere on Harry Maguire, this is just garbled nonsense from the Mirror website, who never knowingly undersell:

Erik ten Hag disagrees with Harry Maguire over next Man Utd captain as he loses armband

He definitely disagrees that there should be a next Man Utd captain at all, but neither has said who should be the new captain so this is quite clearly bollocks. But what shade of bollocks?

Erik ten Hag has yet to decide who will succeed Harry Maguire as the next Manchester United captain – but the Dutchman looks set to ignore the defender’s previous advice over the armband.

He definitely has decided though. And we think there may have been a slight hint in the fact that Bruno Fernandes captained Manchester United 42 times last season.

So has Maguire previously suggested that Fernandes is a sh*t captain? Has he f***.

Fernandes was one of a handful of players who were named by Maguire back in 2021 as potential captains of the future. However, the majority of Maguire’s tips – including David de Gea and Axel Tuanzebe – are no longer at the club.

“I think we have a lot of leaders. There’s Bruno [Fernandes], who has come in and made a massive impact at the club, results-wise but also off the field. Nemanja [Matic], Juan [Mata], David [De Gea] – they’ve been at the club a while now. There’s definitely a lot of leaders in the dressing room.”

It doesn’t sound like ‘Erik ten Hag disagrees with Harry Maguire over next Man Utd captain as he loses armband’. It sounds like Maguire – once he stops being bizarrely shocked – might agree that Fernandes is the right choice.

But for this headline to work we must pretend that Fernandes is not the choice of Ten Hag after all…

While Ten Hag could decide to proceed with Fernandes as captain, Varane was given the armband for United’s recent 2-0 win over Leeds. And the former Ajax boss gave the Frenchman’s leadership qualities a glowing endorsement after the match.

Mediawatch cannot help but think that narrative might hold just a little more weight if Bruno Fernandes had been available for the 2-0 win over Leeds.

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