Gary Neville claims Manchester United star was not ready

Manchester United suffered a heavy 4-2 defeat against Leicester City on the weekend in the Premier League. And as a result of the loss, the Red Devils now find themselves sitting at sixth in the Premier League table.

Having earned 14 points from the first 8 matches of the Premier League season, it is safe to say that things need to improve for Manchester United if they are to challenge for the title this season.

Mason Greenwood opened the scoring on the day with a fantastic strike from outside the box in the 19th minute of the game. Leicester City soon equalised through Youri Tielemans. Marcus Rashford scored an equaliser on his return from injury after Caglar Soyuncu had given the Foxes a 2-1 lead.

However, unanswered goals from Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka late on meant that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were handed their fourth defeat over the past 7 games across all competitions.

Manchester United legend believes Harry Maguire was not ready to play against Leicester City

Eyebrows were raised when Maguire’s name was on the team sheet. Coming into the game, it had appeared that he was going to be out injured for a while longer but instead, he ended up starting against his former side.

Gary Neville felt that the Manchester United captain was not ready. Speaking on Instagram and as reported by The Sun, he said:

"“Maguire is overrated? No, Maguire is a fantastic player.“Maguire wasn’t ready yesterday, he was nowhere near being ready for that match. I think he was thrust back in because of Varane’s injury. Maguire was well off it yesterday.“But I think he’s the right type, Manchester United need more like him. Maguire’s not good enough? We’re on the wrong path here if we’re now starting to say Harry Maguire is not the right type of signing.“I think Harry Maguire is the perfect type of character for United. I think he’s performed well since he’s come to the club.“Yesterday he was miles off it, he was nowhere near at the level in terms of fitness-wise and we’ve all been there as players.”"

Maguire had spent the past few weeks out with an injury and it had looked like he was set to miss a bit more action. But he returned to the starting line up against Leicester City and it certainly looked like he was not up to pace.

The recent injury suffered by Raphael Varane during the international break while playing for the France national team might very well have played a huge part in Maguire returning against his former side at the weekend. But in hindsight, it certainly was not the right decision.