England boss Gareth Southgate has leapt to the defence of Harry Maguire after the defender's own goal in Tuesday's 3-1 friendly win over Scotland, claiming that he has never seen anything like the "ridiculous" treatment of the Manchester United man.
Maguire - whose £80m move to Old Trafford from Leicester City in 2019 remains the world-record fee for a defender - has been on the receiving end of scathing treatment for perceived poor performances over the past couple of years.
The 30-year-old is now the fifth-choice centre-back at Man United behind Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw, and he was stripped of the captaincy by Erik ten Hag ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Despite his perennial struggles at club level, Southgate remains a staunch supporter of Maguire and has continued to call him up for international matches, often to the bemusement of supporters.
Maguire - who is usually a reliable presence in the England backline - started against Ukraine in a 1-1 Euro 2024 qualifying draw at the weekend, before being named among the substitutes for the 150th Anniversary Heritage match with Scotland.
© Reuters
Lewis Dunk and Marc Guehi paired up from the first whistle, but the latter was withdrawn at half time, and Southgate opted for Maguire to replace him rather than Levi Colwill or Fikayo Tomori.
The decision backfired horribly on Southgate, though, as with England two goals to the good thanks to Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham, Maguire stuck a boot out to try to cut out an Andy Robertson cross, but he only succeeded in turning the ball into his own net.
Despite offering Scotland a route back into the match, England eventually restored their two-goal lead through Harry Kane, but Maguire received particularly hostile treatment by the Hampden Park crowd throughout the second half.
Speaking to the media after the match, Southgate launched an impassioned defence of the 30-year-old and labelled the frequent vitriol a "joke", saying: "From a Scotland fans' point of view I get it, I have no absolutely no complaints of what they did.
"It is a consequence of ridiculous treatment of him for a long period of time, frankly, and I think our fans recognised, 'ok there might be a bit of heat from our own supporters but we are not going to have it from others getting into him.' But it is a joke.
© Reuters
"I have never known a player to be treated the way he is, not from the Scottish fans, by our own commentators, pundits, whatever it is, they have created something that is beyond anything I have ever seen.
"He has been an absolute stalwart for us in the second most successful English team for decades, he has been an absolutely key part of that.
"I have talked about the importance of our senior players, he has been crucial amongst that and every time he goes on the field the resilience he shows, the balls he shows is absolutely incredible, so he is a top player and we are all with him.
"Our fans were brilliant with him tonight. I feel fairly strongly about it yes. He is good, he is great, we have had a good win and he was a big part of that. He has fronted up as he always does which is enormous credit to his character."
Maguire's second-half cameo at Hampden Park was his 59th appearance in an England jersey, and he has now featured in each of the Three Lions' last 18 matches since being an unused substitute in a friendly win over Switzerland in March 2022.
However, the former Leicester man has only played 23 minutes of Premier League football so far this season, and should Martinez shake off an injury scare, Maguire will be expected to start on the bench for Man United's upcoming clash with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Ben Knapton
