Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim wants Harry Maguire to play a similar role to Sebastian Coates | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim has earmarked a key role for Harry Maguire in his Manchester United project.

United continue to struggle to deliver positive results on a consistent basis but the Red Devils have shown plenty of promising signs during the early days of the Amorim era.

In particular, the performances against Liverpool and Arsenal in the last 10 days have underlined that Amorim is capable of building a competitive squad if he is given the right tools to succeed by INEOS.

INEOS are understood to be working on strengthening his squad in the winter transfer window. In the meantime, the young head coach is trying to get the best out of the current crop of players, as many top stars underperformed under Erik ten Hag.

One such player is Maguire, who received plenty of backlash during Ten Hag’s reign. Now, he has emerged as one of Amorim’s most reliable options.

The draw against Liverpool and the penalty shootout win over Arsenal were largely engineered by the Mancunians’ resilient defending. Maguire was a towering presence at the back in both outings.

The 31-year-old’s physicality, positional awareness, and most importantly character, played a big part in United’s impressive showings.

Amorim didn’t need much time to understand what the Englishman is capable of offering as it is understood he has already told the club to trigger a 12-month extension option in his contract.

A report from The Telegraph reads: “In a team ‘starving for leaders’, as he put it, Amorim sees Maguire as one of his few leaders.”

Further, it is added that the United gaffer wants Maguire to follow the footsteps of Sebastian Coates, who struggled to show his talents at Liverpool but established himself as a “key pillar” in Amorim’s setup at Sporting CP. The centre-back was an important player in Amorim’s two league-winning campaigns.

It is added that Amorim “appears to have earmarked a similar role for Maguire in the middle of his back three.” The England international, Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez have become Amorim’s “go-to” three.

Leny Yoro has also impressed in his limited appearances but the Frenchman is still too inexperienced to regularly start in the Premier League. As such, Maguire’s leadership qualities and experience could play a considerable part in Yoro’s development at Old Trafford.

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