Medical insider backs Harry Maguire psychologist plan amid Man United latest
Man United skipper Harry Maguire should follow Gary Neville’s advice and seek the help of a psychologist to turn around his fortunes ahead of the World Cup.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
Maguire, 29, has made a number of high-profile mistakes for club and country in recent months and he has now not started a league game since the 4-0 humbling at Brentford on the second matchday of the season.
But England boss Gareth Southgate has stuck with the centre-back and it appears likely that he will be on the plane to Qatar in just over a month’s time.
As quoted by The Sun last Tuesday (27 September), former United right-back Gary Neville suggested that Maguire should enlist a psychologist ahead of the tournament.
It is a strategy that Dinnery claims is worth a shot.
“I would absolutely recommend that because he seems to be getting it from every angle at the moment,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“It’s probably for the first time in his professional career. He might be questioning whether he is still capable of playing at the highest level.
“We have seen that he was a consistent performer in the past. He was, for the large part, the first-choice central defender. Now, he’s slid down the pecking order. The pressure is growing on him.
“He needs that reassurance and the tools to deal with these stresses. He needs to find a way to get back to the performances that convinced United to spend so much money on him.
“This would be a relatively safe method while also incorporating some coping mechanisms with this to potentially improve output and performance. Why wouldn’t you want to do this?”
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