Manchester United captain and centre-back Harry Maguire has insisted that he wants more game time at the club.
While Maguire, along with Bruno Fernandes, had the pleasure of lifting the Carabao Cup trophy following the 2-0 final win over Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium, he only came on for the final few minutes of the game itself – with Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane being preferred to the England international.
Speaking to ESPN, the defender lamented his lack of recent game time, but also admitted that he understands there there is ‘high competition for places’.
“I’m a footballer who wants to play games and I want to lead the boys out of the tunnel at the start of the game, but also I understand this is part and parcel of football when you play at the top level and you have got huge competition for places,” he said.
On this edition of The Promised Land, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders and Rob Blanchette discuss Manchester United winning their first trophy under Erik ten Hag. If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
“The lads who are playing and starting, Rapha [Varane] is playing really well and we have seen his ideas, the manager, what he wants, and he does like a left-footed centre-back playing, so it’s high competition for places.
“I think he [Ten Hag] has been asked numerous times about my role in interviews and he tells me honestly, he believes in me, but this is football.
“This is Manchester United. We want to win trophies, and big trophies and to do that you need competition for places.
“The manager speaks to me daily and he really respects me and believes that I am a top centre-half with all the attributes to play in his team, but also he understands that the players who are playing – and I understand that the players who are playing – are playing very well.”
