Carrick told to ditch star who was ‘never a Man Utd player’ in brutal putdown
Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has urged Michael Carrick to replace Harry Maguire, insisting the £80million centre-back ‘was never a Manchester United player’ in the first place.
The 33-year-old enjoyed a real resurgence under Carrick during the second half of last season, although it still wasn’t enough to earn him a spot in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup.
Maguire, who moved to Man Utd in 2019, has endured plenty of criticism during his seven years at Old Trafford, with his detractors back out in force after the Red Devils suffered a shock 2-0 defeat Hull City in their Premier League opener last weekend.
The former Leicester City star started alongside Ayden Heaven, with Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt still sidelined, as United conceded twice from set-pieces against the newly-promoted outfit.
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And former Premier League winner Obi Mikel believes it’s time for Maguire to only be utilised as a squad player at United and not a regular starter.
“When your top centre-back is Harry Maguire, you have a problem,” he said on The Obi One Podcast.
“Harry Maguire was never a Manchester United player, never suited the system or the football club.
“The fact that he has managed to stay there for seven, eight seasons is incredible. How has that happened? I don’t understand that, and he’s still there, and he’s the number one defender. That’s a problem.”
Obi Mikel continued: “The first goal, he was grabbing his own player and stopping him from going to defend the guy who was scoring. What was he doing? I have no idea.
“They have Lisandro Martinez, Matthijs de Ligt, Leny Yoro; they have players there. But I don’t know why he is still starting.
“Is he good to be a squad player because of his experience? Yes. But not to start games, not to be your number one centre-back.
“He’s slow on the ball; he touches it theree of four times before releasing it. He doesn’t know what to do with the ball, he’s confused when he has the ball.
“A centre-back needs to move the ball quicker, but Maguire doesn’t know how to do that quickly enough and get the team to play at the right tempo.”
Carrick refuses to criticise Maguire
Speaking after the game, Carrick refused to dig out individuals for mistakes and insisted his side would learn from their defeat.
“Two goals conceded is frustrating. We’ve been pretty good at defending set-pieces over a period of time but they decided the game today.
“There are things to improve on, but again, one game doesn’t change the direction of everything.
“But we need to be aware of what we need to get better at.”
United are back in action on Sunday when they welcome another of the newly-promoted sides, Ipswich Town, to Old Trafford.
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