Manchester United hosted an open training session on Wednesday in advance of Thursday’s Champions League opener, with Harry Maguire impressing in one surprising department.
After two seasons, Manchester United are back where they belong in the Champions League, and ahead of the campaign opener against Sabah, training has been ramping up.
While United are expected to rotate heavily, training on Wednesday saw Michael Carrick putting his squad through its paces, minus Luke Shaw.
This included Harry Maguire, who actually excelled in a drill that not many would back him in, much to his own delight.
Harry Maguire outpaces Diogo Dalot and Shea Lacey in training
The open training session wasn’t anything intense or serious, considering it was the day before the game, but Carrick had his players doing running drills with the ball.
It entailed players in groups of four dribbling to a cone and back twice.
Maguire won both of his drills against Diogo Dalot, Bruno Fernandes and Shea Lacey, all of whom would be considered much quicker than the big centre-half.
But Maguire showed incredible acceleration to get off the mark quickest, great control to round the marker, and then get back to base ahead of his teammates.
Maguire was visibly delighted with himself in a clip of training on X posted by Tyrone Marshall.
This was just training, but Maguire showing his pace in this moment to win the drill demonstrates the burst acceleration he still has despite the common perception that he is slow-moving.
Maguire’s strides make him quick over a short distance
One pretty easy explanation for Maguire’s speed here is that his stride length is probably double that of Shea Lacey, for example, given his size and length.
This allows him to get across small distances quickly, where others cannot.
However, it doesn’t make up for the fact that Maguire isn’t quick enough when having to get back, especially when factoring in a slow turn.
Over the course of the 2025/26 campaign, Maguire clocked in as the 78th fastest centre-back in the Premier League at 32.1 km/h according to FotMob, which isn’t particularly fast.
While this training drill doesn’t mean he is suddenly rapid, Maguire is looking very sharp, and United will need him to be to avoid any further setbacks this season.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/dBsqb3r