Krishnan Sreekumar
Ahmed Elmohamady critical of Harry Maguire; says defender ‘does not have the level’ to be Manchester United skipper
Speaking to beIN Sports (h/t Daily Mail), Egypt international Ahmed Elmohamady said that his former Hull City teammate Harry Maguire ‘does not have the level’ to be the club captain of Manchester United.
Maguire moved to United in 2019 from Leicester City amidst much hype, given his impressive performances for the Foxes and with England in the 2018 World Cup, where he helped the national team reach the semi-finals of the competition. Soon after his move, he was also made captain of the club.
Elmohamady said that what the Red Devils needed was a player with a strong personality, and suggested that Ronaldo would be the ideal candidate as captain because Maguire could not handle the pressure of leading the side.
“Man United need a player with a strong personality and I hope that the next manager will give the captaincy to Ronaldo if he stays. Ronaldo can handle this responsibility and pressure; however, Maguire can’t handle this pressure.”
Maguire and Elmohamady were teammates at Hull City from 2014 to 2017, where they helped the side win the 2016 Championship play-off final and earned promotion to the top-flight. While the former moved on to Leicester City soon after, the latter last recently played for Aston Villa in the Premier League.
“Affecting his performances”
The decision to appoint Maguire as club captain by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has not gone down as a great decision so far, with the defender not looking the part or matching his predecessors in Nemanja Vidic or Gary Neville.
Elmohamady said that he believed that being appointed club captain was affecting Maguire’s performances, saying that he knew the player from his time at Hull City and believed that he doesn’t have the level to be a United skipper.
“Harry was with me in Hull City and, in my opinion, he doesn’t have the level to be the Manchester United captain. So I think that the pressure he has by wearing the captain’s armband is affecting his performances.”
It surprised many that Maguire was made captain within just a few months of him moving to Old Trafford, and the decision has still not been something the player has been able to justify. The defender may be a presence in the dressing room, but we have not seen much of his leadership on the pitch.
This season especially, the Englishman has suffered and looked woefully out of form on the field. He has been prone to making schoolboy errors and looking off the pace against strong opposition, which does not bode well for him as a leader and a captain.
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United fans watching the games regularly will be able to tell you that at times, a combination of Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof has made the rearguard look more solid in games. Despite Maguire being the skipper, his counterparts have performed better than he has.
It did not help that over the weekend, the club captain scored an own goal against Tottenham Hotspur. Luckily for him, Ronaldo masked his skipper’s faults by scoring a hat-trick and winning all three points at home.
