- 7 hours ago
Harry Maguire has lived through one of the most polarizing careers in modern football. From becoming the world’s most expensive defender at Manchester United to facing relentless mockery, boos, and even his own fans turning on him, Maguire’s story is one of resilience against all odds. And yet, when England needed him most - at the 2018 World Cup, Euro 2020, and beyond - he stood tall, delivering on the biggest stages. A journey from ridicule to redemption: Respect the nam
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00:00Imagine being told you're the most expensive defender in history.
00:04£80 million, that's not a transfer fee, that's a spotlight, and one that never switches off.
00:10When Harry Maguire joined Manchester United from Leicester in 2019, the expectation was clear.
00:15Be the next Vinic, the next Ferdinand, the rock to rebuild a crumbling defence.
00:20And at first, he looked the part. He even wore the captain's armband within six months.
00:24But here's the thing about record fees.
00:26They don't just buy ability, they buy scrutiny, pressure, and a continuous, real-time re-evaluation of performance.
00:34Every misplaced past, every awkward turn, every lapse in concentration isn't just a mistake.
00:39It's a headline. It's another note to jot down when building a definitive case.
00:45As far as career ups and downs go, this is an absolute rollercoaster of a journey.
00:49This is episode four of Respect the Name with Harry Maguire.
00:53Maguire! And he has won it!
00:57Harry Maguire at the back post.
01:00Maguire!
01:01Magnificent equalising goal from Harry Maguire!
01:06Before he became the world's most expensive defender, Maguire was the local lad, Academy product,
01:11breaking into the Sheffield United first team as a teenager.
01:15And not just breaking in, by the way, but thriving.
01:18By 19, he was already racking up over 100 appearances in League One, featuring in the Team of the Year three seasons in a row.
01:25That's not a fluke.
01:26That's consistency, toughness, and a footballing education against strikers who'd kick lumps out of you on a Tuesday night.
01:33His move to Hull in 2014 looked like a step up, but it wasn't smooth.
01:38Lone spells at Wigan.
01:39Bench minutes in the Premier League.
01:41For a while, it seemed like Maguire was destined to become a bit of a journeyman defender.
01:46Solid, but unspectacular.
01:48But then came Leicester City.
01:50Signed for £12 million in 2017, he slotted straight in, becoming the Fox's rock at the back.
01:56He was big, brave, deceptively good on the ball,
01:58and crucially, he had an eye for those surging runs out of defence that got fans off their seats.
02:04And just in time, too, because Gareth Southgate was watching, and in England, they were, well, in need of someone at the back.
02:11Exactly in Maguire's mould.
02:13Harry, first of all, congratulations.
02:15This is a big thing for you.
02:17How did you feel when it happened?
02:19Yeah, obviously delighted.
02:21When you're a young boy growing up, you always dream about playing for your country,
02:25and I've been given the opportunity to come here and try and prove myself.
02:28When the three Lions went to Russia for the 2018 World Cup, Maguire wasn't just on the plane.
02:33He was starting.
02:35Nobody knew it then, but this was about to be the tournament that transformed his career and his reputation forever.
03:03Nobody expected England to go very far, and nobody expected Harry Maguire to become a national hero.
03:11But from the very first game, he looked like he belonged.
03:15Everything he showed at club level translated perfectly into international football.
03:19Game after game, his confidence grew along with the teams.
03:23They were really onto something.
03:25It was all leading up to his big moment.
03:26The moment that sealed his cult status.
03:29The World Cup quarterfinal against Sweden.
03:32Welcome to the quarterfinal of the World Cup of 2018.
03:3860 minutes gone.
03:39Asher Young swings in the corner.
03:40Kane, Stones, now they break.
03:43And it's headed firmly in.
03:45Harry Maguire got his head to it.
03:47If one Harry doesn't get you, the other one will.
03:50England 1-0.
03:52The image of him charging away.
03:54Fists pumping.
03:55Face red.
03:56It became the photo of the summer.
03:58Suddenly, Maguire wasn't just Leicester's centre-half.
04:01He was the bruising face of England's new generation.
04:04But it wasn't just the goal.
04:06It was the way he threw himself in front of everything.
04:08Using that massive head of his for just about every clearance.
04:11And carrying the ball out of defence like a man twice as confident as anyone thought he was.
04:17Fans loved him.
04:18Pundits loved him.
04:19And back home, the meme started flying.
04:22The famous photo of him leaning over the barrier track to his girlfriend.
04:25That shot of him riding an inflatable unicorn in the swimming pool.
04:29Slabhead became a nickname of affection.
04:32And his song was chanted at pretty much every England game for years.
04:36Off the back of that World Cup, Maguire's stock skyrocketed.
04:51By 2019, Manchester United came calling, breaking the transfer record for a defender to sign him
04:57for £80 million.
04:58£5 million more than Liverpool had paid for Virgil van Dijk.
05:02The pressure was enormous.
05:04But at the time, it felt like the perfect move.
05:07England's breakout star anchoring the defence of the country's biggest club.
05:10It felt like a throwback to the Fergie era, where the league's best up-and-comers were
05:14given the biggest platform of them all to shine and become serial winners.
05:19Of course, what came next wasn't quite the fairy tale.
05:23Now, I'm not going to sugarcoat this part because here's where it gets a little bit messy.
05:27Somewhere between 2021 and 2022, Maguire became less of a footballer
05:32and more of a punchline.
05:35You know the clips.
05:36Him turning like a bus, tackling his own teammate.
05:39The endless compilations on social media.
05:41The captain of Manchester United had somehow become a meme.
05:44And the cruelty of it was that once the internet decides you're a joke, it kind of sticks.
05:49Don't get me wrong.
05:50He's the one producing these comical moments on the pitch.
05:53The shockers against Leicester, Watford and Liverpool in late 2021 were a real low point.
05:58Plus, the arrest in Greece in the summer of 2020 certainly didn't help his reputation
06:02or that of English holidaymakers abroad.
06:05But the boos at Wembley for England, the jeers in pre-season all over the world, it was brutal.
06:11Here's the detail that people often forget.
06:14Maguire was still starting most games and he wasn't shying away from the struggle at all.
06:19By the time Eric Ten Hag arrived and committed to a starting line-up at United,
06:23Maguire's transformation from captain to benchwarmer was in full swing.
06:28Rafael Varane and Lissandra Martinez formed the partnership fans had been craving
06:32and Maguire became the odd man out.
06:36There were games where he looked lost, stripped of confidence,
06:38almost paralysed by the weight of criticism.
06:41Pundits lining up to write his career's obituary.
06:43Rock bottom isn't an exaggeration.
06:45And yet, in true testament to his character, the story doesn't even end there.
06:50Here is where Harry Maguire surprises people.
06:53He didn't leave.
06:54Even when West Ham gave him the option to join in the summer of 2023,
06:58he didn't sulk.
07:00Even when they removed him as club captain, he stayed.
07:03He fought.
07:04And when injuries hit Man United's defence, suddenly he was back in the team.
07:07And you know what?
07:08He was good.
07:09Not world-class.
07:10Not flawless.
07:11But solid.
07:11Dependable.
07:13And the kind of performances that had fans reluctantly admitting that they may have been
07:17wrong about him.
07:18By the way, a lot of this was in a completely new system as well, with Ruben Amarim's three-man
07:22defence.
07:23Suddenly, the narrative shifted.
07:25From the butt of all jokes to the beginning of his redemption arc.
07:29You've got his player of the month award in November 2023.
07:32The team's FA Cup success in 2024.
07:34And then, the Europa League quarter-final, second leg.
07:39Old Trafford.
07:40A vibrant April evening in Manchester, where a pulsating affair is looking like it's going
07:45to penalties after Kobi Mainu's 120th minute equaliser against Lyon.
07:50Lifts this into Kobi Mainu.
07:51Mainu takes a touch.
07:52Kobi Mainu!
07:54Kobi Mainu!
07:56Oh my God!
07:58Oh my God!
08:04That is, until added time, in extra time, the ball comes in.
08:13There's movement at the back post.
08:14Harry Maguire's wide frame bursts into view like a runaway train.
08:18Casemiro comes to the edge of the penalty area.
08:21Stands up across.
08:22Harry Maguire!
08:24Harry Maguire scores!
08:26Harry Maguire!
08:27Harry Maguire!
08:29Harry Maguire!
08:29Harry Maguire!
08:30Harry Maguire!
08:30I told you!
08:46The leap.
08:47The header.
08:48The goal.
08:48The utter jubilation.
08:51Now, despite this, it is difficult, I'd argue impossible, to get away from the fact that
08:55Maguire's redemption, if you can call it that, didn't actually influence much else
09:00of what was going on at Manchester United during the 24-25 season.
09:04I'm sitting here talking about the good moments only for him, but on the pitch, the season
09:07was nothing short of a disaster.
09:10It was the club's worst ever Premier League finish in 15th.
09:13Just 42 points.
09:14And no European football for the first time in over a decade.
09:19However, this is the part where I think there's a small argument to overlook all of it.
09:24And here's why.
09:25As you'd imagine, during his spells of poor form, Maguire was the one receiving plenty
09:29of abuse.
09:30He was the one facing critics, being judged over every single minute detail.
09:34He almost became the poster boy for United's fall from grace, even if he wasn't directly
09:39involved in any particular incident.
09:42So when things do start to go a bit better on an individual level, he should be praised
09:47on an individual level.
09:48Just as much as he was singled out for the criticism.
09:50And that even if things were crumbling around him, Maguire managed to pull himself together
09:54mentally and physically out of a huge career slump.
09:59So where does that leave the legacy of Harry Maguire in the footballing world?
10:03Statistically, the numbers are respectable.
10:06Over 200 appearances for Manchester United, more than 60 caps for England, a European Championship
10:11final, a World Cup semi-final, a few domestic trophies and countless duels won in both boxes.
10:17But legacy isn't just numbers.
10:18It's perception and complete mental fortitude in the face of abuse and the sort of piss-taking
10:25that would break most footballers apart.
10:28Maybe that's the real legacy of Harry Maguire.
10:30Not the highs or the lows, but the fact that he lived through both and came out the other
10:35side, still now playing at the very top level, well into his 30s.
10:39He's still standing after years of ridicule.
10:42And there's something admirable about that.
10:45Harry Maguire, respect the name.
10:47Maguire coming in.
10:50Oh, Harry Maguire from miles out.
10:52Oh, 2-2.
10:53Harry Maguire.
10:55Stands up across.
10:56Harry Maguire.
10:57Harry Maguire scores.
10:59Harry Maguire scores.
11:00Harry Maguire scores.
11:01Harry Maguire scores.
11:02Harry Maguire scores.
11:03Harry Maguire scores.
11:04Harry Maguire scores.
11:05Harry Maguire scores.
11:06Harry Maguire scores.
11:07Harry Maguire scores.
11:08Harry Maguire scores.
11:09Harry Maguire scores.
11:10Harry Maguire scores.
11:11Harry Maguire scores.
11:12Harry Maguire scores.
11:13Harry Maguire scores.
11:14Harry Maguire scores.
11:15Harry Maguire scores.
11:16Harry Maguire scores.
11:17Harry Maguire scores.
11:18Harry Maguire scores.
11:19Harry Maguire scores.
11:20Harry Maguire scores.
11:21Harry Maguire scores.
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