'It means so much' - Harry Maguire explains how he overcame ruthless criticism at Man United

Harry Maguire feels Manchester United players must be able to deal with intense scrutiny if they want to represent the club.

The £80million transfer fee United paid Leicester to sign Maguire in the summer of 2019 has followed the centre-back and he has endured a difficult last few years.

Maguire suffered a drastic loss of form in the 2021/22 season and slipped down the central defensive pecking order when Erik ten Hag was appointed in the following summer.

At the end of Ten Hag's first year in charge, he stripped Maguire of the captaincy and a departure seemed likely, with West Ham submitting a bid for his signature.

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However, Maguire stayed and fought to regain his starting place, which has seen him force his way back into Ten Hag's plans and demonstrate great resilience.

"First and foremost, it's a huge honour and a massive privilege to play for a club with so much history," Maguire told talkSPORT. "It's a huge club and I love playing for it.

"It means so much to me and there's so many ups and downs, the scrutiny is there, everybody knows that. The pressure is there because we're the most spoken-about club in the world - for sure in this country. That's just the way it is and you have to get used to it.

"You've got to be able to deal with it. As an individual, you can't look too much into it, you just have to look after yourself during the week and prepare as well as you can.

"Then you approach the matchday with confidence. The preparation gives you the confidence to deal with the pressure of playing for such a huge, iconic club."

Maguire, who is a leader in the dressing room, discussed the impact of United's young players and said: "They've come into the team during a really difficult season -we've had our problems.

"We've had a ridiculous amount of injuries, so they've come in and it's not been the greatest environment because we've not been winning as many matches as we should do at this club. It's going to make them stronger and better - they will have big futures at this club."