Dwight Yorke praises Maguire's 'courage' after defender's U-turn at Man Utd

Dwight Yorke has praised Harry Maguire’s ‘courage’ in transforming his status at Manchester United - before taking a swipe at the way Erik Ten Hag handled the defender during the summer.

Having almost left the club when he was stripped of the captaincy by Ten Hag, Maguire has undergone a resurgence in the past two months with eight straight starts in all competitions.

The centre-half is now Ten Hag’s preferred option to Raphael Varane, with Yorke both impressed by his resilience and also bemused by the manager’s willingness to let him leave amid interest from West Ham. Maguire’s decision to stay has led to a degree of personal vindication, though Yorke says that does not conceal the wider turmoil at his former club.

The 1999 treble-winner told Mail Sport: ‘Listen, I'm happy for the kid. If I was in Ten Hag’s position I would have dealt with it differently. In hindsight, it's easy for me to sit on the outside and say certain things but yeah, it's good for him to come back and do what he's done. It takes a lot of courage.

‘I think when people are calling for your head and you're getting out of the club it's hard to turn that around. Even though he seems to have had the last couple of weeks go for him, I still think we are in for a very difficult time whether Harry Maguire is there or not.’

Yorke added: ‘It’s a difficult time. It's not quite as free-flowing as you would like after some of success we had last season. We expected a little bit better. It certainly hasn't been that way. It's been a real topsy-turvy season for us, up and down. Really lots of issues on and off the football pitch. It has certainly been a struggle to this point.’

Yorke also believes Jim Ratcliffe’s protracted purchase of 25 per cent of the club needs to be finalised before United can turn a corner.

He said: ‘It does help, no two ways about that. I think that's always the case. I think for the manager maybe the situation is slightly different, but as players we don't really get caught up in the hierarchy of the club. We are here to play football, get paid and get results and the players don't really get bogged up in it.

‘But ideally, we would like to see some sort of settlement within the club and really trying to move the club forward. And I think that will help everybody.’