Gary Neville assessment serves as warning to Manchester United's summer transfer window signings

The writing has been firmly on the wall for Harry Maguire since Erik ten Hag took charge.

Maguire's Manchester United days were clearly numbered when the Reds' boss dropped him down the pecking order, even picking Luke Shaw at centre-back ahead of the England international. It was a sad decline for a centre-back who offered so much promise when he arrived from Leicester City in 2019.

He came in on the back of a brilliant World Cup and was one of the most in-demand players in the Premier League. However, Maguire's tale was one of mismanagement by several coaches.

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The 30-year-old was rushed into the captaincy at Old Trafford despite being fresh through the door. Looking back, it was unfair to demand so much of him, so early into his career in the northwest.

Ten Hag's decision to strip him of the armband in the summer should have been made at least a year prior. While away at the Qatar World Cup, Gary Neville assessed Maguire's time at United and it serves as food for thought to Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund.

"Harry is a great centre-back and he has been brilliant in the last two tournaments, he has just had an awful time at United these last 12 months," Neville explained to Sky Sports. "United is a very unforgiving place, I know that from being there for 20 years, if you just do not get it right that place can just eat you alive - Harry is just getting that at this moment in time."

The transfer window is in full swing and United have got their hands on three players well in advance of the September 1