Man United hand Harry Maguire shock contract extension as Ruben Amorim admits they’re ‘STARVING for leaders’, 18 months after star was stripped of captaincy for Bruno Fernandes

Manchester United will trigger the one-year option in Harry Maguire’s contract at Old Trafford, with head coach Ruben Amorim calling on the former club captain to step up in a team ‘starving’ for leadership.

Amorim, who also revealed that Amad Diallo is close to agreeing a new deal, spoke to Maguire at Carrington on Friday morning and confirmed that he will extend the £190,000-a-week contract he signed after moving from Leicester City in 2019 for £80million. 

Both Maguire and Diallo would become free agents in the summer if they don’t sign new terms.

‘Amad is near, Harry Maguire is going to trigger our option,’ said Amorim, who made reference to the fact that Maguire was stripped of the captaincy by former United manager Erik ten Hag.

‘I spoke with him this morning and I told him he has to improve his game on the pitch. We need him a lot and he also has to improve as a leader. We all know the situation he had here but we are going to trigger happily the option.

‘There are moments in the career of a player that are different and I think he coped very well with his struggles. When you look at our team, we are starving for leaders on the pitch. 

‘He is a leader, he has to improve that part and he has to improve our game and we are happy to continue with him.

‘If you want to be a top, top team you have to be leaders and we have that in the dressing-room but they have to step up. We have a lot of young kids also and this moment is really hard. We can look at the table but you are still Manchester United.’

United go into the game on the back of four straight defeats in all competitions and having not won at Anfield in nine years.

‘We know that it is going to be a tough moment, a really different context for both teams,’ he added. ‘They had that strong base for long years but we have worked this week to win the game.

‘I am just focused on the performance. I have not focused on losing or what could happen. We had some losses, and we prepared this game to win. We know what we are going to face and we have to be prepared for a strong start from Liverpool.

‘My focus is to prepare the team to not suffer that difficult moment like you saw in the first 15 minutes against Newcastle. I want to improve that.

‘In football, in one game anything can happen. If you talk about the season, then almost every time the best win. In the moment, they are better than us but we can win any game. We have to focus not on the context but the performance. We have to improve the simple things.’

Maguire was appointed captain six months after joining the club in 2020 but was ruthlessly stripped of his role by former boss Ten Hag and replaced by Bruno Fernandes ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. 

The centre-back has become a regular starter under Amorim having struggled for minutes before his arrival.

Maguire was even handed the captain’s armband once again in United’s 4-0 thrashing of Everton at the start of December.