Manchester United defender Jaap Stam has urged Harry Maguire to “fight his way back into the team” after being dropped from Manchester United’s last four Premier League games.
The England international, signed from Leicester City for £80m in 2019, returned to the starting line-up in Thursday’s Europa League 1-0 loss to Real Sociedad at Old Trafford.
It was Maguire’s first start since the emphatic 4-0 defeat at the hands of Brentford in the second Premier League game of the season.
United have gone four on the bounce since then, with Erik ten Hag using Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane as his centre-back pairing.
Stam believes Maguire has felt the pressure of his enormous price-tag, but the former United defender has not ruled out the 28-year-old’s return to the regular starting line-up.
“It’s because of the amount of money they paid for him,” Stam said of the pressure on Maguire to TribalFootball.com, on behalf of bet365. “When you bring in a player for that amount of money people expect you to produce and lead. Fans and people all over the world expect him to deliver a certain level of football and defending.
“For him, it hasn’t been so easy. For a centre-back, the players around you need to provide as well, there are other teams in the league who are struggling with players not up to the levels they were used to, so that’s how it goes in football.
“Harry can do better. He can improve as a player, but there’s a lot of competition with the United squad for these positions now and the manager is looking for a certain standard of play in what he’s expecting from his squad and if individuals are not delivering on that, then you need to make changes and that’s what the manager has done.
“It’s not about giving players infinite time; it’s a results business and you need results quickly. Results are the best medicine to get to a higher level of play and where you want to go as a manager. Harry needs to start from zero, work hard, take the minutes to show himself and what he’s capable of and fight his way back into the team.”
