Aditya Bose
Carragher believes Andre Onana shouted at Harry Maguire to appease Manchester United fans
According to The Telegraph (Subscription Required) [h/t Daily Mail], Jamie Carragher stated that Andre Onana “yelled” at the club’s former captain Harry Maguire during the pre-season. According to him, this unexpected behaviour by the new signing was meant to show the fans and his teammates how quickly he is adapting to the culture of this prestigious club.
Maguire’s captaincy was taken away by Erik ten Hag and handed over to Bruno Fernandes. Indeed, it was a decision that went down well with fans. On the other hand, Maguire’s first team position for both club and country has been hanging in the balance in recent seasons.
Carragher mentioned:
“One of the most distasteful incidents of all occurred during the friendly with Borussia Dortmund in July, when new signing Andre Onana started yelling at Maguire, in my view disgracefully playing to the gallery to endear himself to United fans.
“I watched that [Onana shouting at Maguire] in disbelief, but it said everything about what has gone wrong. Maguire was still the club captain then. He should have reacted furiously, put Onana in his box and demanded respect.”
The issue addressed by the football pundit, Garragher seems to be legit, since Onana is very new to the club. He still has to reach a certain level of standards inside the club to make those actions.
Had the situation been at the end of the season when Onana already got to know about the league and the style of play, then it would have made sense, provided Maguire made the same mistakes.
Harry Maguire needs to prove his worth this season to get back where he was during Leicester City days-
During England’s match against Scotland last Tuesday, Maguire scored an own goal just a few minutes after coming on. However, the game ended with a 3-1 favour on England’s side.
Now the main issue is that with the amount of own goals he has to his name. It shall make it more difficult for him to gain his first team position. Maguire desperately needs game time to regain his confidence and momentum.
Onana on the other hand, is very particular when the defenders make unnecessary mistakes which leads to a goal for the opposition. We have seen the same situation in the pre-season when Borussia Dortmund won the game by a narrow yet thrilling score line of 3-2 — the game where he shouted at Maguire.
Man United brought Maguire for a whopping amount of £80m to get him from Leicester City, which obviously placed a lot of expectations on him. Victor Lindelof, Raphael Varane, and Lisandro Martinez are all in front of him under Ten Hag because he hasn’t lived up to the expectations.
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As for Onana, it is natural for goalkeepers to be commanding and shouting at their defenders. But the Cameroonian should know better than to publicly berate an already under-fire player. His actions will incite mixed opinions from the fans, but there is a general feeling now that Maguire just isn’t good enough to start regularly.
