Harry Maguire compares himself to two England legends and reveals hardest thing about playing for Man Utd

Harry Maguire compared himself to two England legends while discussing the hardest thing about playing for Manchester United.

Maguire has had a tough few years at Man United, and although his performances have improved in recent months, he has struggled to nail down a regular starting role this season.

Despite his struggles, the £80 million defender has been an ever-present fixture in Gareth Southgate's England squad.

The England boss has publicly backed Maguire on several occasions in response to calls to drop him, and in September last year labelled criticism of the defender "a joke."

After being called up for England's friendlies against Brazil and Belgium over the next few days, Maguire has spoken out about the level of scrutiny England players receive depending on where they play their club football.

"I do think different clubs have different scrutiny on players, and that is a big aspect when fans see him picking a squad," Maguire said.

"I could have played for Leicester and had a bad game and then had six good ones, a couple of bad ones and everyone would think that I'm in amazing form. If I did that for Manchester United, it doesn't happen like that.

"There's loads of people out there now who probably don't think I should be in the [England] squad. There's millions of people that think I should be."

Getty)

The 31-year-old went on to compare his situation with England and United legends Wayne Rooney and David Beckham.

"I think you see a lot with England career paths - you get built up, built up, built up, and then you've got to maintain that really high level to stay there, otherwise you get shut down pretty quickly.

"I think every player who's played for Man United has come to a time when they've played for the country and people haven't been happy.

"David Beckham had a lot, and I think even Wayne [Rooney] had a lot of things said, and he was one of the greatest players ever to play for his country.

"But Gareth has shown great faith in me, trusting me throughout the whole time, and that’s given me the confidence to make sure I’m ready and available to play and perform. I have great belief in my ability and what I can bring to a team."

Topics: Manchester United, England, Harry Maguire, Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Gareth Southgate, Premier League

Alex Brotherton

Alex Brotherton is a Sports Trends Writer at SPORTbible. He has previously worked with publications including the Manchester Evening News, GOAL and BBC Sport. He is a football fanatic, but also dabbles in tennis and American football. He enjoys running, cooking and watching non-league football.

@alex_brotherton