England manager Gareth Southgate has come to the defense of Manchester United’s defender Harry Maguire, who he says has been treated unjustly.

Maguire was in action in England’s two games in September’s international break for the Three Lions but was at fault for two goals that the team conceded in two games.

England faced Ukraine in a Euro2024 qualifying game in Poland, and it ended 1-1 as Harry Maguire was caught marking his teammates as Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko opened the scoring for the Ukrainians.

In Tuesday’s friendly against Scotland, which ended 3-1, Maguire poked home a second-half own goal as Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham managed to get on the scoresheet.

Despite these performances that have been consistent and brought criticism from fans and analysts and also put his place in the Manchester United team in jeopardy, Southgate thinks Maguire is not appreciated enough.

“I’ve never known a player treated the way he is. He’s been an absolute stalwart for us in the second most successful England team for decades – he’s been an absolutely key part of that. I’ve talked about the importance of our senior players; he’s been crucial among that. Every time he goes on the field, the resilience he shows is absolutely incredible. He’s a top player, and we’re all with him, and our fans were brilliant with him.” Southgate said.

Harry Maguire was close to leaving Manchester United in the summer as West Ham United were keen on bringing him, but the deal didn’t go through.

The 30-year-old defender has played for England 59 times, helping them to the UEFA Euro 2020 finals, where they lost to Italy at Wembley Stadium and to the FIFA World Cup semifinals in Russia 2018, as well as a quarter-final finish in Qatar last December.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu