Harry Maguire's comments to Gary Neville come back to bite under-pressure Man Utd ace

Harry Maguire’s claim that Manchester United were “improving” and should be aiming to win the Premier League title have come back to bite him.

Maguire stated his ambitions for United in May 2021, after the team had finished second behind Manchester City and were looking forward to the Europa League final against Villarreal. United ended up losing the final on penalties to the Spanish side and have been stuck in a rut ever since.

Having finished third and second in the past two seasons under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United are currently languishing in seventh, six points adrift of Champions League qualification. They are guaranteed to end a fifth straight campaign without silverware and are braced for more upheaval, with interim boss Ralf Rangnick ready to step aside for Erik ten Hag to take over.

United’s season is threatening to end in a whimper, with just one win from their past seven matches in all competitions, and their problems appear even more acute when looking at Maguire’s words from 11 months ago. Speaking to Gary Neville on The Overlap , the United captain was bullish about his side’s ambitions, insisting they could close the gap to their rivals.

"I think we are improving. From last season to this season we are definitely improving,” Maguire said. "We've actually been on a good run ourselves and I think the run Manchester City have been on has just been incredible. You have got to give them credit. They broke away with something like 20-odd games on the bounce.

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"We dropped some silly points in silly games. We know we can do better in some games and be a bit more ruthless in others, and really have great belief in the