Maguire puts sentiment aside for return to boyhood club Sheffield United
The £80m Manchester United and England defender started his professional career with the Blades and says he ‘owes them a lot’.
Harry Maguire is eternally grateful to boyhood club Sheffield United – but there is no room for sentiment on Sunday as the Manchester United defender looks for victory at Bramall Lane.
The world’s most expensive defender came through the Blades’ youth system, making 160 appearances for the club before moving onto Hull, Leicester and then Old Trafford over the summer.
Maguire returns to Bramall Lane this Sunday as an £80million player and cannot wait to see some familiar faces, although helping Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United to victory is his key focus.
“Living up in Manchester now, it’s nice to go home and see my friends and my family,” the centre-back said.
“Probably not (a chance to do that) this weekend, especially not before the game.
“I probably will after the game. Hopefully I’ll be the one smiling with my friends and not them.
“I am sure some of them will be supporting Sheff United, but my family will all be supporting Man United and hoping we can get the three points.”
Maguire now plays for one of the biggest clubs on the planet and is an England regular, but his first professional years were spent in League One after Sheffield United were relegated from the Championship at the end of his first campaign.
“It means so much the club,” Maguire told Football Focus.
“The club that gave me the chance to fulfil my dream in playing professional football.
“I owe them a lot. I go back and support them whenever I can.
“It’s the first result I look for when I get off a football pitch.
“I want them to win every game of football they’re playing apart from when I play against them.”
The Blades have been the surprise package of the season so far and start Sunday’s match above of Man United, who have started to show promise after a bumpy start to the campaign.
“I feel like we should have more points than what we’ve go,” Maguire said.
“I can’t really recall a game where we deserved to lose apart from maybe West Ham, where we weren’t good enough that day. We know that.
“But you can’t argue with the table come the end of the season probably will be the right position.”
Paul Pogba, Scott McTominay and Marcos Rojo are out of Sunday’s trip to South Yorkshire.
Eric Bailly, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Diogo Dalot continue rehabilitation from injuries, while Luke Shaw, Nemanja Matic and Axel Tuanzebe are available but lacking match fitness.
