To have psychological resilience is to possess the ability to mentally cope with or adapt to uncertainty, challenges and adversity. Manchester United's Harry Maguire has certainly been forced to develop that resilience over the last 18 months.
Maguire hoped the most difficult chapter of his career had been written last season, yet the pages have continued to turn with a horror script into the new Premier League campaign. Maguire started against Brighton and Brentford and United suffered humiliating defeats in both of those matches. Maguire has not started in the Premier League since and United have taken maximum points.
Erik ten Hag has preferred to start Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane, which has meant Maguire has been limited to just 280 minutes. It was thought a spell on the bench, with some time away from the intense scrutiny, would benefit the player, but that was immediately made redundant when Gareth Southgate included Maguire in his England squad this month. That was a selection obviously based on historic performances, not current form, and that exposed the player to scrutiny on a national scale again.
