The defender’s Premier League appearances for his club have been few and far between this season and his place in the Three Lions squad was up for debate ahead of the World Cup.
But Maguire did not just make the squad, he started the first game against Iran and has not looked back, returning to some of the form of his early days at Old Trafford.
However, he has been marginalised as captain by Erik ten Hag at club level and revealed how he feels about how his club performances last season. ‘I don’t think there’s different pressure,’ he said of club and country. ‘The pressure of playing in a World Cup with England at this stage is the biggest tournament in the world.
‘At Man Utd I’m under a lot more scrutiny. Everything I do gets analysed. Every pass I make gets analysed. Every goal we concede is a defender’s fault.
‘And if you’re playing week in, week out as I did for three years, the last year hasn’t been good enough. Everyone in the team didn’t play well enough and we came under lot of scrutiny as players. No one came out of the season with plaudits.’
It is different with his country. Maguire seems to grow in stature playing for Southgate alongside Manchester City’s John Stones.
‘The belief and the confidence it gives me, it makes me want to go out and perform as well as I can and never let him down,’ he added. ‘I think he’s done incredible with the team, the belief we’ve got now.
‘I think obviously the expectation of everyone – fans, media, players and staff – is a lot greater now and it probably adds a little bit more pressure to deliver good results and big tournament performances.
‘We’ve answered them at the moment and hopefully it continues [against France] on Saturday.’
And the 29-year-old believes he will come out of his current situation at United the better for it.
‘The last year has been difficult and I haven’t played as well as I’ve done in the previous five years at the top level but I think during a career there’s only probably Lionel Messi and Cristiano [Ronaldo] who who’ve not had a dip in their careers,’ he said.
MORE : Manchester United and England star Harry Maguire reveals Erik ten Hag message ahead of World Cup quarter-final
MORE : Kisses all round for England squad as Harry Kane and Aaron Ramsdale pucker up to WAGs while Jack Grealish’s girlfriend Sasha Attwood all smiles after World Cup win against Senegal
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