As Manchester United prepare to take on Sevilla in the Europa League this evening at Old Trafford, one man who will no doubt be hoping to remain in the starting lineup is club captain, Harry Maguire, with the England international having produced a solid display against Everton last weekend.
The 30-year-old seemingly looked like a "different" player in that win over the Toffees, according to manager Erik ten Hag, with the towering centre-back having been "dominating his opponent" and showing "so much initiative".
Despite that strong showing, however, it would appear that the former Leicester City ace remains among those who could be allowed to depart Old Trafford this summer, having fallen way down the pecking order under the ex-Ajax boss.
The £190k-per-week man – who was branded "woeful" earlier in the campaign by pundit Lianne Sanderson – has notably made just two starts in United's European run thus far, with it set to be no surprise if teammate Raphael Varane takes his place once again alongside Lisandro Martinez.
Will Maguire start vs Sevilla?
There may also be bad memories among Red Devils supporters regarding Maguire's performance when the Old Trafford outfit took on today's opponents in the Europa League semi-final back in 2020, with the Sheffield native having somewhat cost his side in that disappointing 2-1 defeat.
The £80m man was seemingly culpable as the Spanish outfit drew level midway through the first half in that meeting, bizarrely allowing the ball to run across the box and find former Liverpool winger Suso at the back post, rather than attempting an interception.
The central defender also appeared somewhat out of position as opposition forward Luuk de Jong struck what proved to be the winning goal late on, with club legend Paul Scholes having been particularly critical of Maguire and the rest of the backline:
"You can almost blame the whole back four for this goal. Firstly, [Brandon] Williams doesn’t get to the ball. Where Maguire is, I’m not too sure, he has to drop in, surely."
While much of the blame was undoubtedly placed on his centre-back colleague Victor Lindelof for failing to stay with his man, Maguire's inaction epitomised what was a disappointing individual display, as he lost possession on 11 occasions and won just six of his ten total duels.
The skipper also came in for criticism from Manchester Evening News journalist Samuel Luckhurst, with the respected insider awarding the struggling asset a measly 5/10 match rating, while writing:
'Let the captaincy go to his head with some pointless protests which led to Maguire losing his focus and being admonished by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.'
That "leggy" outing from Maguire – as per pundit Danny Murphy – certainly did not help his cause, even if the one-time Hull City ace wasn't the only villain on the day, with Ten Hag likely hoping to avoid a repeat scenario occurring this time around.
For all the positive strides that the 6 foot 4 dud made against Sean Dyche's men last Saturday, the calming presence of multiple Champions League winner, Varane, could be what is needed in the backline tonight.