THERE is a strong statistical case to be made that Harry Maguire is thriving at Manchester United.

According to FBref.com’s numbers, the Old Trafford captain ranks among the top 15 per cent of centre-backs in Europe’s top five leagues over the last year when it comes to goal threat, passes into the final third, short-passing accuracy, through-balls per 90 minutes and successful passes under pressure – facets desired of a player in his position in the modern game.

He scores highly in the more traditional aspects of central-defensive play, too. He is dominant in the air, dribbled past infrequently and among the best at putting his body on the line to block opponents’ shots.

They eye test, however, tells a different story.

The intangibles and unquantifiables paint a less flattering picture of the job Maguire has been doing at the heart of United’s defence this season.

It is difficult, for instance, to assign a numerical value to the regularity with which Maguire’s lack of athleticism sees him second to a loose ball, or too slow to change direction and rearrange his feet when the circumstance requires. There is no stat to accurately illustrate how his lack of pace can leave United’s goal exposed when they attempt to defend with a high backline. And his growing list of errors of judgement can’t be compiled into a neat data set.

But these all show up – glaringly and all too often – when watching United even cursorily. Several examples can be plucked from just the last month of fixtures.

In the 1-1 draw with Burnley at Turf Moor in February, Maguire rushed from his station to pressure Wout Weghorst 30 yards from goal. He was easily turned by the 6ft 6ins striker and then unable to recover as Jay Rodriguez sauntered into the space the United defender had vacated to score. At home to Southampton four days later – another 1-1 draw in a game a side with top-four ambitions would be expected to win – he was isolated on United’s right flank by Armando Broja and spun inside. Maguire was left flailing a futile heel in Broja’s general vicinity as the on-loan Chelsea player sped away toward goal.

In the first leg of the Champions League last-16 showdown against Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano, United fell behind to a stunning diving header from Joao Felix. It was a magnificent finish, but Maguire too easily allowed the young Portuguese star to dash in front of him and have a clear run at the dangerous near-post area.

Then in the Manchester derby last weekend, Maguire inexplicably elected to allow the ball to run between his legs – when he could have simply averted the immediate danger by instead sweeping it out for a corner – after Phil Foden’s strike was parried by David de Gea. The United captain’s lapse left the ball to cannon around inside the six-yard box. Seconds later, Kevin De Bruyne pounced to score his and City’s second in the 4-1 rout.

This is Maguire’s third season with United and it is by far his worst individually. In his first campaign with the club, he was the biggest single upgrade made to a defence that conceded just 36 league goals, the third-best in the division and a dramatic improvement on the 54 shipped the previous term. Last season, United conceded 44, but Maguire’s own performances, on the whole, drew praise.

This season, though, there is no escaping the deterioration in Maguire’s game. And United, with 38 goals conceded in 28 games, have the worst defensive record among the Premier League’s top eight sides.

Still, it would be wrong to level the full weight of the blame for Maguire’s struggles solely at the player. He is a victim of a greater malaise at Old Trafford, both structurally on the pitch and institutionally off it.

Prior to signing for United in 2019, Maguire had stood out for Leicester City, whom he’d joined from Hull City two years earlier. The majority of his spell at the King Power Stadium came during the forgettable managerial reign of the ultra-cautious Claude Puel. The French tactician was ultimately dispensed with more for the drab, risk-averse playing style he espoused than for the results it garnered.

And Maguire has consistently shone for England, even through periods of poor form with his current club. When representing the Three Lions, he tends to be one of three centre-backs – as was often the case at Hull – in Gareth Southgate’s side, a backline usually protected by two defensive midfielders.

When asked to defend deep with the protection of cautious full-backs and two defensively minded midfielders, or as part of a three-man central-defensive unit, Maguire is often outstanding. This shrinks the space his is tasked with protecting, shielding his lack of athleticism and further emboldening his upper-echelon ball-progressing abilities.

But United do few – if any – of these things. They like to defend high and, under interim manager Ralf Rangnick, compress the pitch through aggressive pressing. They also ordinarily utilise inverted wingers, meaning their full-backs are required to push up to provide width. This greatly increases the acreage Maguire must defend.

They often play with two defensive midfielders, but, due to a consistent failure to properly invest in the position, this happens to be the weakest area of United’s squad.

It is the same scatterbrain approach to recruitment that led United to signing Maguire, a perfectly capable centre-back given the right conditions, yet one so ill-suited to how they seemingly want to play. And the £80m they paid Leicester for his signature will forever been an albatross around his neck.

United have been unfortunate that Raphael Varane, the high-calibre centre-half acquired from Real Madrid last summer, has missed significant game time through injury. The four-time Champions League winner has been absent for their most calamitous defensive displays this season – the 2-0 and 4-1 losses to City, the shocking 5-0 defeat at home to Liverpool and the 4-1 reverse at Watford that ultimately cost Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his job.

But as long as Maguire is required to be their best defender, there is a ceiling on United’s ambition. And it is entirely of their own making.

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