It was a night of redemption for Man United stars Harry Maguire and Andre Onana against Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The centre-back headed in what turned out to be the only goal of the game in what was another disappointing team performance, whilst the keeper flung himself to his left to keep out a last-kick-of-the-game penalty to ensure that the Red Devils earned all three points from the game.
There may be a school of thought that suggests Maguire’s game was a temporary respite from being sat on the sidelines at Old Trafford, however, the collapse of a potential January move for a new centre-back has arguably handed Maguire a new lease of life.
According to Football Insider, a move for Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo has collapsed.
With prospective minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, also owning Nice, having the Frenchman hop from one of Sir Jim’s teams to another would likely have made perfect sense, however, this appears to be far from happening at present.
That’s unlikely to please manager, Erik ten Hag, as he looks for longer term solutions to United’s defensive issues.
Maguire’s own aspirations need to be called into question too, should he end up back on the bench and appear happy with his lot after Tuesday.
With a European Championship just around the corner he needs to be playing regularly, and the collapse of a potential Todibo deal as well as Maguire’s timely intervention really should see to it that he’s back at the heart of United’s defence more regularly.
If he becomes third or fourth choice once more when United have all of their centre-backs fit again, then Maguire simply has to leave.