Harry Maguire has revealed that David Beckham called him to offer support after his horror show against Scotland last month.
Maguire was relentlessly jeered and mocked by Scotland supporters at Hampden Park after coming on as a half-time substitute, and another difficult evening for the Manchester United centre-half was compounded when he scored an own goal in a 3-1 England win.
Beckham knows what it feels like to be the subject of abuse as a player, and a new documentary on Netflix charts how he and his family were targeted after he was sent off while playing for England against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup - the nadir of his career.
Maguire, who is preparing for England's friendly against Australia on Friday and next week's European Championship qualifier with Italy, says the United legend reminded him what he had achieved in a touching phone call.
“I actually spoke with David about three weeks ago after the Scotland game, he got in touch with me," Maguire said. “It meant everything.
“I’ve spoken throughout my career about David Beckham being someone I looked up to and watched when I was a young boy.
“He was a big role model when I was growing up. It shows how classy he is to reach out to me. It was something I really appreciate, it was touching really.
“I don’t want to go too much into the conversation but the main thing he he did is he reminded me of the career I’ve had to date and the big moments I’ve had.
“When you’re going through tough moments you’ve got to go through past experiences and past memories and where you’ve gone in your career and what you’ve been through.
“Every career is so up and down, especially when you reach what I’ve reached, in terms of being the captain of the biggest club in the world for three-and-a-half years. He’s been in that position and knows what it’s like.
“Obviously having watched the documentary I couldn’t believe how much he went through at the time.
“In the documentary Gary Neville speaks about how resilient he is as a person. He’s been a huge role model for many footballers growing up, especially in my era.”
Maguire's mum was among his family at Hampden Park for the friendly and later described her son's treatment as "disgraceful and totally unacceptable" in an impassioned social media post.
Maguire reiterated that he can handle the abuse but revealed some of his family have stopped travelling to away games since he became the object of ridicule.
"It’s opposition fans [booing], so it’s not something we can control," he said. "I’m an experienced player now and I know how to block it out and I know how to focus and get through the games.
"It probably affects my family and friends more than it affects myself, especially when I am playing in a game. I have had so many great nights and have so many great memories playing for my country and playing for my club as well.
"You play football to create memories: not just for myself but for my family and my friends. Obviously, the last year has been a little bit difficult for them to enjoy the games as they did in the previous eight or nine years of my career.
"I’m sure that will change. I’ll keep working hard and keep fighting for why place and keep trying to put things right. The tournaments that they've been to, they’ll probably say it’s the best times they’ve had and the best times of their lives. Obviously the last year has been a bit tougher for them.
"There has been times where they probably haven’t been to as many games as they did previously, especially the away games. But I’m sure over my career they’ve had amazing times and they’ll speak really highly of it.
“I’m sure in the future, I’ve still got many more years left, they’ll have some amazing times as well."
