How Harry Maguire turned his Man United career around after Greece scandal, being booed by his OWN fans and losing the captaincy – and why the club want him to sign a new deal, writes CHRIS WHEELER

Two significant dates are marked in the calendar for Harry Maguire next week.

On Thursday, a celebration for the Manchester United and England defender’s 33rd birthday. Twenty-four hours earlier, a retrial over allegations he assaulted a police officer and of attempted bribery is scheduled to take place on the Greek island of Syros.

Safe to say, he will only be turning up at one of them.

In the unlikely event that the shambolic Greek legal process functions on this occasion after no fewer than four previous postponements, Maguire isn’t even required to appear in person. He will instead be doing what he does best, anchoring United’s defence against Newcastle in the Premier League at St James’ Park.

The good times and the bad times have never been far apart during a rollercoaster career at Old Trafford that could feasibly come to an end in June, although there is growing optimism that contract talks will have a positive outcome before then.

Aside from the arrest in Mykonos on a family holiday in 2020, Maguire has been booed by his own fans playing for club and country, and been the target of a bomb threat. He has been dropped from the United team, stripped of the captaincy, and would have been sold in 2023 had he not rejected a £30million move to West Ham.

The good times and the bad times have never been far apart during a rollercoaster career at Old Trafford that could feasibly come to an end in June

Throughout it all, Maguire has kept his dignity and remained loyal to United when it didn’t always feel like the club were being loyal to him. Those who have worked with him describe the ultimate team player who puts his body on the line and faces adversity while worrying more about those around him.

There he was again at Everton on Monday, leading the defensive effort in the face of a late onslaught to earn a 1-0 win that put United back into the top four.

Restoring Maguire to central defence in a 4-2-3-1 formation has been one of the key changes under Michael Carrick.

After missing the final two months of Ruben Amorim’s tumultuous reign through injury, he returned on the bench for two games under Darren Fletcher, and has started all six of Carrick’s matches in charge.

No wonder United’s new head coach expressed hope on Friday that Maguire will stay beyond this summer, when his contract expires. United are known to be concerned about losing him at the same time as another experienced player in Casemiro.

‘Harry’s had a great career so far, and hopefully there’s a lot more to come,’ said Carrick, who was first-team coach under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when Maguire arrived at United from Leicester in a £80m deal in 2019.

‘He’s an impressive character. He has been here on the journey and the experiences that he’s had, and with England as well, shows exactly what he is. I think we all know the player he is and what he’s capable of doing.’

With all Maguire’s experience, is he in some of the best form of his career?

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‘There’s a case,’ nodded Carrick. ‘I think as your career goes, when you’re a young player everything’s fresh and new, and you’re fearless and there’s not many scars there.

‘You get to your peak years and you feel good, but obviously you’ve had a few ups and downs along the way. The experience that you’ve gained then makes you a better player; that sweet spot of being able to do it physically still, but using the experiences to know what’s coming.

‘Experience is massive, it’s hard to put a price on how valuable that can be. Harry’s gained an awful lot of it in different ways through this club.’

Including interim managers and caretaker coaches, Maguire has played under seven different bosses at United. Some have valued him highly, others less so. Most of them had to rely on him at some point.

Likewise the fans, although for the most part he has always had the backing of hardcore United supporters who appreciate his endeavour and a knack for late goals. His winners against Liverpool and Lyon were the stand-out moments under Amorim.

Maybe not the Australian day-trippers who booed him at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when United played Crystal Palace – their opponents at Old Trafford on Sunday – on tour in 2022, and again in Perth a few days later.

Or the idiot who had threatened to bomb Maguire’s home in March of that year, leading to the player moving his partner Fern and their two young daughters to a safe house while police carried out a sweep of the property and United brought in extra protection.

The so-called United boo-boys never bothered Maguire, but that wasn’t the case with his England critics.

Targeted by Three Lions fans when England played Ivory Coast and Germany in 2022, he was hammered so relentlessly by Scotland supporters as he scored an own-goal at Hampden Park the following year that his mother Zoe took to social media to hit back at the ‘disgraceful’ behaviour. ‘That was a bad one for him,’ says an insider, referring to the lows of the 2022-23 season.

The so-called United boo-boys never bothered Maguire, but that wasn’t the case with his England critics

New United manager Erik ten Hag preferred Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane in central defence. The captain and mainstay under Solskjaer, Maguire only started eight Premier League games.

There was the awkwardness of coming off the bench in the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle at Wembley to then lift the trophy with Bruno Fernandes.

Maguire had to publicly deny rumours of a leadership challenge from Cristiano Ronaldo before the Portugal star was pushed out of Old Trafford, but insiders say that he saw Ten Hag’s decision to hand the armband to Fernandes coming long before he was stripped of the captaincy that summer.

News broke just before a pre-season tour in which Maguire had the added indignity of being berated by goalkeeper Andre Onana on the pitch against Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas and again booed by fans before a pre-season game against Athletic Bilbao in Dublin.

‘He was very consistent in terms of his emotions,’ says one source. ‘When the younger players look at him, they must think “he’s been through so much, what have we got to complain about?”.’

All the while, the shadow of his trial in Greece continued to hang over the player and his family after he was arrested in August 2020 following a brawl. Maguire, who claimed to be defending his sister Daisy during the altercation in a bar, was handed a 21-month suspended sentence. However, the conviction was automatically quashed on appeal under Greek law and four retrials have been postponed.

The Maguire camp want to clear his name, and their legal team will be ready for court again on Wednesday, but no-one expects it to go ahead. There are doubts it will ever take place at all before the statute of limitations runs out in August 2028.

Maguire is said to be very close to his family. His parents Zoe and Alan travel the world watching him. His brothers Laurence and Joe are both footballers, and Daisy works in the sports and entertainment industry.

Maguire has played under seven different bosses at United. Some have valued him highly, others less so. Most of them had to rely on him at some point

‘He was very consistent in terms of his emotions,’ says a source. ‘When younger players look at him, they must think “he’s been through so much, what have we got to complain about?”.’

That’s one reason why Sheffield-born Maguire is said to be keen to stay in the North West and sign a new deal with United. The signs are promising.

He has been able to talk to foreign clubs since the beginning of the year, but turned down AC Milan and Brendan Rodgers’ new Saudi club Al Qadsiah in January.

United are committed to driving down the wage bill and want to reduce his £180,000-a-week salary. But at least they are open to negotiation, which was not necessarily the case with Casemiro.

At this stage of his career, Maguire wants some security in terms of length of contract as he prepares to turn 33. ‘It’s an amazing club to play for and you’d be silly if you wanted to jump out of it as soon as you could,’ he said last year.

Form and fitness will be factors in United’s decision, and in that sense Maguire has a strong case.

He has outlasted his central defensive partners Varane, Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans at Old Trafford. Martinez is out again after only recently returning from a long-term injury, and Matthijs De Ligt has not been available since the end of November. Youngsters Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven have had their teething troubles.

Thomas Tuchel has also taken note and says Maguire is in his thoughts for the World Cup. The player is desperate to go to North America after missing out on Euro 2024 through injury.

He has yet to play under Tuchel and won the last of his 64 caps in a Nations League win over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in 2024.

He has yet to play under Thomas Tuchel and won the last of his 64 caps in a Nations League win over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in 2024

Maguire is still holding out hope of playing in a third World Cup for England

Steve Bruce, who knows a thing or two about playing centre back at United and captaining the club, believes Maguire is worthy of a new contract and a World Cup spot.

‘I believe Harry has been made the whipping boy for what was going on around him for too long,’ Bruce told Daily Mail Sport. ‘I don’t think he’s ever let Man United down. In fact, he’s never let England down either.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he went to the World Cup and gets offered a new deal. Why wouldn’t you? I think centre-halves get better with age. Over the last five or six weeks, he’s given a reminder of just what he’s about – if he ever needed to.’