Harry Maguire expresses optimism over new contract talks with club as his deals nears its completion in the summer.
Harry Maguire and Manchester United are negotiating a new deal that would bind him to the team for at least his seventh and eightth seasons.
United has a 12-month option on the 31-year-old, whose contracts expire in June. After losing the captaincy under Erik ten Hag and coming close to joining West Ham in the summer of 2023, a new contract would be a huge reversal for the centre-back.
Maguire confirmed talks were still taking place. “All the signs are positive at the moment and the chat that I’m having is really positive,” he said. “I’ve still got this year to go with an option in their hands.”
The defender, who paid £80 million to join United in the summer of 2019, played the entire derby as a centre-back in Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 and made an impression in Sunday’s 2-1 triumph over Manchester City.
“It’s been a difficult start to the season for us and not much for our fans to cheer about, so today’s for them,” Maguire said. “I’m sure they’ll be celebrating. I was injured when he [Amorim] first joined, so they’re looking after my minutes – I haven’t been able to play back-to-back games yet. Hopefully with 90 minutes under my belt for the first time in two, three months [I can].”
Maguire is familiar with the three centre-back system, particularly from England under Gareth Southgate. “I’ve played in it numerous times in my career – generally on the left but obviously playing in the middle at the moment,” he said. “It feels good, we feel solid. There’s still much more improvement we need to do.”
“It was a great performance in the end to come here and have 50-50 of the ball, have the same amount of shots as them. It’s not been like that in recent years, so it’s an improvement but still a long way to go.”