Harry Maguire reveals what Ruben Amorim told him before signing Man United contract extension – as he insists the club CAN ‘fight for titles’ under new boss
Harry Maguire has revealed that Ruben Amorim told him it was a ‘no-brainer’ to extend his contract at Manchester United and the defender added that he wants the club to be ‘fighting for titles’ again.
Earlier this month, Amorim confirmed that United triggered a one-year extension to extend the 31-year-old’s deal to June 2026 and demanded that the former captain improved both his form and leadership.
‘Yeah, he (Amorim) is really demanding,’ said Maguire. ‘Ruben said to me that when it came across to him that I had an option (to extend my contract), that it was a no brainer.
‘It’s given me confidence and belief that they want me at the club and part of this project. I’m happy to be here. I want this club to be back fighting for titles and not fighting where we are in the table right now. We’ve got a long way to go,’ he added.
After a run of four defeats on the trot, United drew to Liverpool at Anfield before beating Arsenal on penalties in the FA Cup Third Round on Sunday.
Maguire praised both Altay Bayindir who was the hero for United at the Emirates and Joshua Zirkzee who scored the winning penalty, less than two weeks after he was sarcastically cheered off at Old Trafford.
Harry Maguire revealed that Ruben Amorim told him it was a ‘no-brainer’ to extend his contract
The England international has had a resurgence at Man United since Amorim’s arrival
Maguire insisted that Andy Madley’s controversial decision to award a penalty against him after a dive by Kai Havertz was ‘wrong’ and proof why VAR is needed.
Asked if it was the worst penalty decision he’d seen, Maguire said: ‘Yeah, it’s a tough one. At the time when he gave it, my initial instinct was that it will be all right and VAR will turn it over and then it clicked on in my head that VAR couldn’t intervene.
‘So that’s when my head went a little bit. It was a tough one. He (referee) probably looks back and knows he got it wrong. That’s why we have VAR because we need the big moments correct and it’s a tough gig if we don’t have help for them.’
Bayindir saved Martin Odegaard’s spot-kick to keep the game level at 1-1 before saving Kai Havertz’s penalty in the shoot-out as United booked their place in the next round.
On Bayindir, who endured a tough outing against Tottenham last month, Maguire said: ‘When you play for this club, the lows are really low and the highs are really high. You’ve got to try and maintain yourself.
‘There’s going to be games where you play bad and everyone jumps on you. But those games when you play well, you become the best player in your position in the world.
‘So you’ve got to stay grounded and level-headed but he was brilliant. He made some big saves at some crucial moments. The penalty – if we had gone 2-1 down then it would have been really tough to come back.
‘He made a great save from Declan (Rice) as well late on, but that’s what he’s there to do. I’m sure he would have been disappointed with his game against Spurs. We see him day in, day out in training.
Maguire was stunned when he was deemed to have fouled Arsenal’s Kai Havertz on Sunday
However, United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir came to his rescue and saved the penalty
‘He can produce quality saves. He’s a good goalkeeper and an experienced goalkeeper, so I’m really pleased for him’.
On Zirkzee, Maguire added: ‘I’ve had a time for this club where things are tough and everyone seems to come against you, but one thing’s for sure is that United fans stick with you. When times were tough, they stuck with me.
‘That game against Newcastle he was the unfortunate one to get subbed off – you could have subbed any of the 11 players off at that moment in time and they would have all got booed, because we all deserved to get booed because we were awful in the first 30 minutes.
‘It’s a great ending that he scores the winning penalty and the lads had full faith in him that he does.’
And Maguire hopes that their performances at Anfield and the Emirates can be a catalyst for United, who are 13th, to start showing some consistency ahead of their league game against bottom-placed Southampton on Thursday.
‘We have to realise that we are still where we are in the league table. We’ve got big games coming up. We can’t rest because the league table to look at is embarrassing so we’ve got kick on from this,’ he said.
‘We know we can perform in these big games but we’ve got to maintain our consistency. Our consistency this year has been really really poor. We can produce moments.
‘We produced a moment in the FA Cup final last year and played really well but over a long period, our consistency’s been bad. It’s something we do need to nail down, starting with Thursday.’
Maguire is hopeful that United’s recent results can help spur them on for the rest of the season
United haven’t won a Premier League game since beating Manchester City on December 15 and Maguire admitted that he and his teammates know it’s ‘nowhere near good enough’.
‘Yeah, definitely (should be higher in the table),’ he said. ‘We’ve got good experienced players who’ve had good careers and we all have belief that we should be a lot higher in the table. We know that.
‘To be sat where we are in the Premier League, it’s nowhere near good enough for this squad. But it’s down to us to change it. We’ve got to go on a little run. You don’t really look after results – you’ve got to look after the performances.
‘You can get too wound up looking at results and worrying about results. If the performances are high over a period of time, the results will come and that’s what we’ve got to maintain.’
On his own game which is thriving under Amorim, Maguire disagreed that it’s the best he’s played at United since joining in 2019 for £80M but admitted that he feels like he is getting back to his best.
‘No. I think my first couple of years at United was probably the best part of my career,’ he said. ‘I’m 31 now, coming up to 32 but I’m getting back to that level. I also think I was at that level last season as well, so it’s been 18 months now where I’d say I’ve been playing consistently well for this club again.
‘There’s no doubt I had a tough year in my third season when Ralf (Rangnick) took over. I wasn’t at my best, I knew that, I knew I needed to find something to stay at this club because it demands high standards and I feel like I’ve found something. Mentally and physically, I feel good,’ Maguire added.
