Harry Maguire will continue in his role as Manchester United’s captain the club have announced, despite the England defender being charged for his role in a late-night brawl on the Greek island of Mykonos last month.
27-year-old Maguire, who joined Manchester United last summer in a mammoth £80 million ($102 million) deal, was handed a suspended prison sentence by Greek authorities after being found guilty of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and repeated attempts of bribery.
The incident occurred after a late-night drinking session with Maguire and friends during which Maguire’s group became embroiled in an altercation with another group of men. A subsequent altercation took place with local police who attempted to intervene, prompting the crimes for which Maguire was charged.
The 26-times-capped England international was dropped from Gareth Southgate’s England squad for recent games with Iceland and Denmark due to the incident but his manager at Old Trafford, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, says that the captain’s armband will remain with the under-fire defender.
“He is going to be our captain,” Solksjaer said in an interview with the team’s media entity, MUTV.
“He’s handled it really well and, of course, I’ll be here to support him.
“We’ll just leave Harry and his people and the process to run. For me, he is a top, an absolute top human being and has always been a positive guy with the right values. So I really hope we can see Harry performing at his best.”
Maguire has appealed against the court’s decision – a move which, under Greek law, nullifies the conviction ahead of a forthcoming retrial in a more senior court.
The player, though, remains unrepentant and told the BBC in his sole comments on the matter that his “conscience is clean.”
Manchester United begin their Premier League campaign next Saturday, September 19, against Crystal Palace.
