Harry Maguire was injured again and Manchester United were stuck in a loop under Ruben Amorim, offering their own take on the definition of insanity. As Albert Einstein almost said, it is playing 3-4-2-1 with Bruno Fernandes deep and Casemiro exposed over and over again – but expecting different results.
It was the start of January and, at that point, Maguire simply wanted a return to fitness after two months on the sidelines, regular minutes, a bit of rhythm in his game after an in-and-out season. The notion of an England recall was fanciful. Not to mention the World Cup. Maguire was set to remain on 64 caps, the last of which he won against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in September 2024.
