Erik ten Hag has benefited from the decision to recall Harry Maguire (Picture: Getty)
Erik ten Hag should be apologising to Harry Maguire after the Manchester United defender spared his manager’s blushes in midweek.
The England international appeared to be on the verge of leaving Old Trafford earlier in the summer amid interest from West Ham.
Maguire, however, opted to stay and fight for his place despite suffering the ignominy of being stripped of the captaincy.
Injuries to first choice central defenders Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez have belatedly handed the 30-year-old a chance to regain his place and he has seized the opportunity with both hands.
Maguire delivered a man of the match performance in last weekend’s narrow win over Sheffield United and followed up that display with the winning goal in Tuesday’s Champions League victory over FC Copenhagen.
Harry Maguire scored Manchester United’s winning goal against FC Copenhagen (Picture: Getty)
Former England international Sherwood is delighted to see Maguire well on the road to having his reputation restored and believes his manager should be eating humble pie.
He told William Hill: ‘I’ve got a lot of time for Harry Maguire. He was getting shoved out the door and you could see that the manager was trying to edge him out but he didn’t want to leave.
‘He probably looked around the dressing room, saw how flaky the other players in his position were and decided that he’d eventually get some minutes.
‘I think he’ll play a lot more football now because he’s made the manager realise it’s not all about superstars. Sometimes you need character, heart and personality to play at Old Trafford, and he has all of those.
‘He might not be the greatest, but he’s certainly not the worst.
‘As a manager, when you have a player like Maguire who wants to give everything for the cause and leave nothing on the pitch, you can deal with that.
‘The problem is when people go hiding and they don’t want to leave the treatment room because they want to be at 110% for every game they play, but that is never going to happen. I think he will play a lot more now, and I think Erik ten Hag owes him an apology.’
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Some humble pie required!