Jamie Carragher highlights Cristiano Ronaldo's impact in ‘undermining’ of Harry Maguire at Manchester United
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher recently mentioned Cristiano Ronaldo's impact on Manchester United defender Harry Maguire's struggles and criticism among fans and pundits.
Maguire has faced immense criticism in recent years due to his error-prone and lackadaisical performances for United and England. He has received a lot of stick from fans and pundits, which has even crossed lines to abuse at times.
England manager Gareth Southgate recently slammed pundits who consistently criticize Maguire. Former Liverpool defender Carragher also wrote a column in The Telegraph regarding the same. A part of his column read:
"It was a similar story when Cristiano Ronaldo returned and reports emerged about power struggles in the United dressing room. That is when the undermining of Maguire gained momentum."
Harry Maguire joined Manchester United from Leicester City in 2019 for £80 million, a world record fee for a defender. He was made captain in his first season, a position he held until before the start of this season.
However, as per Mirror, reports emerged after Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival in 2021 that the Portuguese believed he would be a better fit for captaincy than Maguire. However, former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, interim manager Ralf Rangnick, and current manager Erik ten Hag all persisted with the English defender as captain.
Cristiano Ronaldo left the club in November last year and has now joined Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr. Maguire, meanwhile, has fallen down the pecking order at Old Trafford, starting just 16 games across competitions last season. He was stripped of captaincy ahead of this season, with Bruno Fernandes taking up the armband.
Former Manchester United coach hails Cristiano Ronaldo's high standards
Former United assistant manager Mike Phelan, who worked under both Sir Alex Ferguson and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, recently spoke about Cristiano Ronaldo's high standards.
Ronaldo returned to Manchester United in 2021 for his second spell at Old Trafford. He scored 18 Premier League goals in his first season but had a fallout with the club after Erik ten Hag's appointment last summer. He started just 10 games across competitions under the Dutch manager and eventually left Old Trafford in November.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Phelan recently said that Manchester United failed to match Ronaldo's ambition and standards, saying:
"The second time round, he came in a lot older and a lot more opinionated, strong-willed. He still had massively high standards and was terrific to work with. But I'd probably say a tougher mindset..."
"I liked it because he didn't want his standards to drop, he wanted other people's standards to come up. And sometimes you lose a few people along the way when that happens. I remember certain times when he pushed and pushed hard, and he didn't get much reaction or much response. And there was frustration," he added.
Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr and has registered 20 goals and seven assists in 24 games across competitions for them.
Manchester United, meanwhile, finished third last season but are languishing in 11th place after four games this season.