Harry Maguire has told Joshua Zirkzee that his teammates and fans have ‘full faith’ in him amid rumours he could leave Manchester United in January.
Zirkzee has endured a tough time since moving to Old Trafford from Bologna last summer in a deal worth £36.5million.
The forward has recorded just four goals and two assists in 29 appearances so far and was embarrassingly subbed off after 33 minutes of United’s 2-0 loss to Newcastle.
He was further scolded by supporters and pundits for storming down the tunnel after that incident, which fuelled speculation that his time in Manchester was already over.
Juventus are said to be very interested in the Dutchman and a move would reunite him with his former Bologna boss Thiago Motta.
But on Sunday, Zirkzee won over fans with a brilliant performance off the bench against Arsenal in the FA Cup, which culminated in him scoring the winning penalty in the shootout.
Speaking after the match, Maguire said that Zirkzee was an ‘unfortunate’ casualty in the Newcastle defeat and that his young teammate has the full support of the United faithful.
‘I’ve had a time for this club where things are tough, and everyone seems to be against you. But one thing’s for sure is that the United fans stick with you. When times were tough, they stuck with me,’ the England defender told reporters.
‘That game against Newcastle he was the unfortunate one to get brought off. You could have subbed any of the 11 players off at that moment in time and they would have all got booed, because we all deserved to get booed because we were awful in the first 30 minutes.
‘He was the unfortunate one that the manager [subbed off] because of the tactical nous of it. Kobbie [Mainoo] came on and changed the game really.
‘It had nothing to do really with Josh. He probably knows that and he probably felt it at the time, even though it was disappointing for him. It’s a great ending that he scores that winning penalty – and the lads had full faith in him because that’s what he does.’
The reports of Zirkzee leaving have quietened of late, but there were also rumours regarding Altay Bayindir’s future at Old Trafford following a horrific performance in the Carabao Cup against Tottenham.
But like Zirkzee, the back-up goalkeeper redeemed himself in the win at Arsenal, making several remarkable saves to keep United in the game, including denying Martin Odegaard from the spit, before he saved Kai Havertz’s penalty in the shootout win.
‘When you play for this club the lows are really low and the highs are really high,’ Maguire added when asked about Bayindir.
‘You’ve got to try and maintain yourself because there’s going to be games where you play bad and everyone jumps on you. But then the games where you play well you become the best player in your position in the world.
‘You’ve got to stay grounded and level-headed but he was brilliant tonight, made big saves at crucial moments. The penalty, if we had gone 2-1 down it would have been really tough to come back from that and he made a great save from Declan [Rice] late on.
‘That’s what he’s here to do. I’m sure he would have been disappointed with his game against Spurs. We see him at training, he can produce quality saves. He’s a great, experienced goalkeeper. Really pleased for him.’
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