‘He’s been villainised’ – Peter Crouch condemns ‘unacceptable’ abuse of Man Utd star

Ex-England striker Peter Crouch has showered Harry Maguire with praise and condemned the ‘unacceptable’ abuse directed at the Manchester United defender down the years.

United came away from Anfield with their first win at the stadium in nine years last weekend – and Maguire was the hero, rising the highest to thud a towering header beyond Giorgi Mamardashvili in the Liverpool goal.

The England international has made a habit of scoring dramatic late goals for the Red Devils, with five of his last six efforts coming in the 84th minute or later.

However, Maguire has copped his fair share of criticism when his performances have dipped below expectations and the decision was made to strip the centre-back of the captain’s armband in July 2023.

Maguire came close to leaving United later that summer, only to reject a proposed move to West Ham in order to fight for his future at Old Trafford.

But even when Maguire became a figure of fun among some sections of the fanbase, the 32-year-old refused to let the negativity get the better of him – and he appears to have come out the other side stronger.

The former Leicester City man will be expected to keep hold of his place in Ruben Amorim’s starting XI when United return to Premier League action at home to Brighton on Saturday.

‘I’m just really, really pleased for him,’ Crouch said of Maguire on That Peter Crouch Podcast.

‘Throughout my career, there have been points where I’ve been low and I’ve had a lot of grief, a lot of stick, so I kind of know what that’s like.

‘For him to get that amount of grief, it was above and beyond what is acceptable, I think.

‘Attacking his family, his personality, the way he looks, everything was wrong about the way he’s been villainised at that club.’

Crouch applauded Maguire for having the strength of character to block out the noise, even when supporters are questioning his place in the side.

‘I just think it shows absolutely massive bollocks to consistently to go [and perform],’ the former Liverpool, Tottenham and Portsmouth forward added.

‘Even the game against Liverpool, it was like, “Ah, why’s he playing?!”, there’s always this whole thing of being down on him starting.’

Despite spending three years on Merseyside with Liverpool, Crouch admits he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of happiness for Maguire when the defender popped up with his late goal at Anfield.

‘Listen, there have been times where he hasn’t been good enough and that’sbeen called out, but I think the stick went beyond football,’ he went on.

‘When he scored… genuinely, I don’t want to see any Manchester United player score, but when it was him, I kind of half had a feeling of, “Good for him, he kind of deserves this”, and I think there’s a lot of the football community that feel that way.’

Maguire has not played for England in over 12 months and was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s squad for the side’s recent matches against Wales and Latvia.

But according to Crouch, Maguire could return for the Three Lions and even make himself a hero at next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

‘I do think that every World Cup we go into. We haven’t won it since 1966 and there will be one person that scores a winning goal in a World Cup final, it will happen, and then your name is up there with Sir Geoff Hurst forever,’ he continued.

‘It could be anyone! Adam Wharton could find himself in the England squad.

‘This is the beauty of football. Somebody who is on the cusp of the squad could score the winner.

‘You’re more likely to come off the bench and finish the game, score the winner in a World Cup final and have a statue next to Sir Geoff Hurst.

‘That’s how mad football is and that’s the beauty of the World Cup.’

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