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Manchester United lost their fifth game of December when they succumbed to a 1-2 defeat at the hands of struggling Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
It has been a disappointing season for manager Erik ten Hag with injuries and his own dubious selection calls causing the team to suffer.
The manager has hardly ever had the luxury of picking a stable back four this season and currently, the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof, and Harry Maguire are all sidelined.
Maguire’s turnaround
The English centre-back has been sorely missed recently and that is not something many fans would have said aloud when the season began.
He lost his place last season and found minutes hard to come by. The former Leicester City star was close to a summer departure but a move to West Ham collapsed at the last minute.
With the captaincy also taken away from him, it seemed like the England international’s future lay away from Old Trafford.
But a defensive injury crisis saw Ten Hag turn to the 30-year-old and he repaid the manager’s faith with the centre-back winning the Premier League’s Player of the Month award in November as the Red Devils kept clean sheets in all games during that period.
Italian legend Leonardo Bonucci was effusive in his praise of the Englishman in an interview with The Sun, claiming his mental fortitude was worth admiring.
It is no secret that Maguire has coped a lot of flak from fans and pundits alike, with social media being particularly harsh towards the former skipper.
Bonucci’s praise
“For me, Harry is an example. After all the stick and attacks he’s received, he still plays at Manchester United and is a regular for England. That’s indicative of his mental strength.
“Maguire is a rocky and tough defender. His problem is that he was paid an infinite amount of money when he joined Man United. But just because of that, can’t he occasionally drop a clanger?
“He has shown that he’s mentally tough, has leadership skills, personality and intelligence out of the norm. Just like all of us, he may have some limits but he’ll be aware of them and iron them out to improve.”
He picked up an injury in the game against Bayern Munich and United have two of their last four games. Ten Hag will hope to get the defender back in January and try and get his team to pick up some form in the process.
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