players would hardly move if thats the case. His time is up and time to move on, players usually accept it and start another chapter of their career. It says a lot for him he has no ambition or drive to play football, after already a year being on the bench. Genuinely cant think of a worse captain weve had
Ok, buckle up for this because I'm about to do something that I've not really ever done before: defend Harry Maguire.
Every footballer should look at his career as a cost/benefit analysis. Once they reach the highest level, they have a finite amount of time to perform at that level, and, more importantly, capitalize on that ever-closing window of opportunity financially.
People need to keep in mind that every time these guys step onto the pitch, it could be the last time. All it takes is one moment and it's all gone. Leg snapped in half from an awful challenge. A head-on-head collision with another player, or, even worse, the goalposts. We all watched Christian Eriksen nearly
die on the pitch from a cardiac incident. Some players come back from these types of things, but many don't. So it's very important to get that money when you have the opportunity.
Every footballer has a maximum potential. Maguire reached his maximum potential with Leicester. He was player of the season for a team that finished 9th in the EPL; that's not bad for a footballer, being a great player for a mid-table club. He also played in two World Cups, and played in the Euros and was named in the Team of the Tournament. That's a pretty great career right there; not everyone can go down as a Maldini or a Cannavaro. And then, because a famous club with a terrible track record of foolish spending decided to go all-in on him, he simply rose to his level of incompetence, and as a result, got a big, fat contract that he probably didn't deserve.
So, here's where we are. We have this player that rose to his level of incompetence, and everyone knows that he's not good enough to be an elite player for a famous club, and he can surely see the writing on the wall, but...there's this pile of money with his name on it, waiting for him as long as he continues to show up for work every day. What's in Maguire's future if he leaves United? Walking into Barcelona's team and winning the Champions League? Winning the World Cup with England in a couple years? No. His future is to drop back to the level he can handle, being a good player on some team that's going to finish middle of the table. What's that worth to his footballing legacy? Absolutely nothing. Is
that worth giving up insane amounts of money that will help him and his family have a wonderful life after football? Hell no.
Maguire the footballer has accomplished everything he's capable of accomplishing as a footballer; from here on out it only gets worse for him. So he might as well get all that money owed to him, in anticipation of his life after football.