Harry Maguire and a Manchester United redemption – thanks to his goalscoring exploits

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Harry Maguire’s career arc at Manchester United has had many undulations but his header in stoppage time of extra time against Lyon is sending his trajectory upwards once more.

Such was the bewildering elation that winning goal provoked on a night for the ages, it is possible to detect how Maguire’s time at the club, once deemed a failure, will be viewed more positively in retrospect, a sense enhanced if United go on to win the Europa League.

Maguire’s reputation has at least recovered dramatically from the dip suffered a couple of years ago, when United’s fans booed him on successive pre-season tours. He is at a stage now where United executives are keen for him to have a long-term future at the club beyond his playing days, and talks on a new contract are anticipated in the summer after his plus-one extension was triggered in January.

Maguire was 32 in March, so how those discussions go remains to be seen, but Ruben Amorim’s back-three system does raise the value of central defenders.

As curious as it sounds, he is one of Amorim’s clearest routes to scoring too. When speaking in press conferences the United head coach has emphasised the importance of set pieces — which United practice during every pre-match warm-up — and Maguire’s influence in the opposition box is significant. He reads the flight of balls well and has the size to make an impact. He is developing a habit for scoring in major moments.

In October he powered home Christian Eriksen’s corner in stoppage time away to Porto to salvage a 3-3 draw after Bruno Fernandes had been sent off, easing the immediate scrutiny on Erik ten Hag.

Maguire’s winner sparked bedlam at Old Trafford (OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

In February he sealed a comeback FA Cup victory over Leicester City by guiding in Fernandes’ deep free kick in added time, albeit benefiting from the lack of VAR after starting his run offside.

Amorim was extremely grateful later that month during the visit of Ipswich Town when Maguire again responded to United going down to 10 men, following Patrick Dorgu’s red card, by scoring a crucial goal. He arrived onto Fernandes’ corner perfectly to put United ahead for a 3-2 win that shut down relegation concerns.

Against Lyon, having been told to stay up front by Amorim, Maguire peeled off the back of Moussa Niakhate when Casemiro got the ball outside the box, gave a telling nudge to his opponent, and connected to the cross with calmness and conviction to spark one of the all-time great scenes at Old Trafford.

A tapestry of carnage.#MUFC pic.twitter.com/vlD6l0Bmpr

— Laurie Whitwell (@lauriewhitwell) April 17, 2025

Mike Phelan, who coached Maguire at Hull City and United, was in the Sky Sports studios to cover the Lyon game. “That’s more like an old centre-forward in a way, ‘Put the ball into an area, into space, and I’ll get there,’” he tells The Athletic. “It’s that fearlessness of seeing the ball, not the man. ‘I am gonna get first to the ball.’ If Harry gets first and makes contact there is every chance it’s gonna go in the net. You don’t see a lot of that attitude now, attacking the ball. He creates that situation of me against you.

“To go zonal against Harry can be tricky for the opposition because he can get in between those spaces. If the delivery is good then he has a chance to get it on target.

“It was a very controlled header. At that moment in the game, to have that composure, he didn’t get emotional about it. He was calculated. Then the euphoria took over.”

Those memories will last whatever happens against Athletic Club in the semi-final, but there is an opportunity to for Maguire to gain a cult status by helping United lift this piece of silverware, adding a note of personal redemption after missing the 2021 final through injury.

Back then, Maguire’s absence against Unai Emery’s Villarreal was regarded as a huge blow to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, such was his influence on the team. But during the next season his performances deteriorated, coinciding with his arrest in Greece, Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival, and Solskjaer being replaced by Ralf Rangnick.

Maguire was jeered by fans as United faced Crystal Palace in a friendly in Melbourne in July 2022 and then a year later against Athletic Club in Dublin when he gave the ball away for Nico Williams to score.

A month earlier, Ten Hag had taken the captaincy off Maguire and given it to Fernandes. West Ham United agreed a £30m fee with United but Maguire was steadfast in wanting to stay.

Ten Hag made Fernandes captain instead of Maguire (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Nearly two years on, he has played another 64 games, taking his total in a United shirt to 239 since arriving in 2o19, placing him 95th in the all-time list, above Nani (230), Ruud van Nistelrooy (219), and Park Ji-sung (205). This season, he has played 1,484 minutes in the Premier League, 11th most of all players, gaining his place amid injuries to Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez, and for the most part performing well.

Maguire is top of one particular metric: aerial duels won per 90 minutes, at 3.1. It is that ability in the air which has made him a makeshift attacking weapon for Amorim in these barren times. Maguire was sent on with two minutes left of normal time away to Nottingham Forest and got two chances to salvage a point, setting the scene for his intervention up top against Lyon.

It was not Maguire’s first time in that emergency territory. In November 2022, Ten Hag tried Maguire at centre-forward alongside Ronaldo for the final seven minutes against Real Sociedad, and the Dutchman used him as a lone striker for the FA Cup quarter-final against Liverpool last season.

Rewinding all the way back to Maguire’s first grassroots club, Brunsmeer, where he was coached by his dad, reveals a striker origin story. Maguire has joked to people at the club on his visits there since that he started out up front, his dad moved him into midfield, then into defence, and he was worried he would end up being a goalkeeper.

John Pemberton, Sheffield United’s academy manager when Maguire was at the club, says: “He was a centre-half, but initially he was playing in midfield.”

Maguire played against the likes of Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Ravel Morrison when Sheffield United faced Manchester United in the 2011 FA Youth Cup final. “He got his fair amount of goals, we used to do quite a bit of work on set pieces, getting him free on corners,” Pemberton adds. “Then certain things in play where he would step forward and step in and have a shot. He had a decent strike on him.”

Phelan says: “When we first spotted for Hull, he was at Sheffield United in midfield. Steve Bruce put him in a defensive role. He could score goals at set pieces, that was always an option. Attacking set pieces, he is a threat. He likes scoring goals, he is more than just a defender, Harry.”

Maguire’s £80million transfer fee always made him the focus of scrutiny, but the first two years were fairly successful, with United finishing third and second. That he is continuing to make himself useful is a testament to his mentality, Phelan and Pemberton agree.

“He suffered a bit of a loss of form. In Harry’s case he stayed steady, true to himself, there was a lot of noise around him that got built up pretty quickly — he can’t do this, he can’t do that. It became too negative. But he dug in, he understood his responsibilities, became patient. All players suffer, it’s just what they’ve got within themselves to come through it.

“What’s remarkable is that he was more or less outed by a couple of managers that they didn’t want him. When that permeates itself through to the dressing room then you ask yourself questions: ‘Why is that happening? What am I gonna do about it?’ He’s gone from zero to hero in a way. That is a credit to him, being robust enough to handle it, and still finding a way to contribute in big moments.”

Pemberton says: “He’s a composed character, and people underestimate his resilience. I remember when he went there and I went over to see him, I sat with him at one of the games and had a chat with him. I remember saying to him: ‘Look, you’re a strong kid, you’ll ride it.’ And he has.”

Amid bedlam in the stands at Old Trafford, Maguire’s intense but stoic reaction to his winner against Lyon stood out. “That was an inner confidence and a lot of things probably going on in his head leading up to that point,” says Phelan. “‘I can do this, I am your guy.’ I like that about Harry. He is very quiet, not in your face, but he knows exactly what he’s got. There is a sense of purpose in him.”

(Top photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

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