Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has sent a strong message to manager Erik ten Hag, expressing his disappointment regarding his limited playing time this season.
Despite the club grappling with an injury crisis in defensive positions, the 30-year-old defender has seen only 116 minutes of action in the Premier League.
First-choice duo Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez have struggled with injury problems in recent months, leaving Victor Lindelof, Jonny Evans and Maguire as centre-back options.
The England international was handed his first Premier League start of the season in the dramatic 2-1 victory over Brentford before the international break, bagging an assist to go with his decent performance.
Despite his Man United woes, Maguire continues to be a prominent member of Gareth Southgate’s national team squad and is expected to play a part in England’s games against Australia and Italy.
As the Three Lions prepares to host Australia in a friendly encounter at Wembley Stadium, Maguire expressed his growing frustration at his restricted opportunities at Old Trafford.
“I’m not going to sit here all my life and play only once every month, and if it carries on, then I’m sure myself and the club will sit down and have a chat about things,” Maguire said (via the Mirror).
“At the moment, I’m fully focused on the two games for England. I’m fully focused on fighting and trying to get back my place at Manchester United and helping the team climb up the league to where we should be.
“I believe in my ability and what I’ve done in my career. Every player who is on the bench should believe that they should be starting otherwise they won’t be playing at a high level.
“I’m no different. It’s been tough. I want to play games. I want to feel important to the club, I want to feel important to the rest of the team.
“At the moment I haven’t been playing as much as I’d like, it’s the bottom line of it. I just have to make sure I’m ready to take the opportunities when they come along.”
