Pundit reveals he rang Harry Maguire after going 'too far'

Harry Maguire gets a lot of criticism from pundits in the media, and one even rang him to apologise after believing he went too far when discussing the Manchester United centre back.

Maguire's form in the last couple of years has seen him come under increased scrutiny from most in football, be in pundits or fans, and even his new manager has dropped him.

His call up to the current England squad caused a lot of anger, especially after not playing for United during their recent revival, despite playing an essential role in Gareth Southgate's previous teams.

Roy Keane was recently accused of getting 'too personal' when it comes to his scathing analysis of the former Leicester City defender.

However, it's Paul Merson who thought he'd gone too far, when questioning the centre back's price tag, and got his number off Brendan Rodgers to call Maguire and apologise.

"I don’t want to be right on that – I’d rather be wrong," the Sky Sports pundit said to Independent.ie on the viral clip of him saying the £80 million transfer was 'ridiculous.'

"I want England to win the World Cup and Harry Maguire to get the winning goal. It was just my opinion.

"I rang up Brendan Rodgers and said, ‘Can you get me Harry Maguire’s number?’ I didn’t feel comfortable with myself.

"I needed to ring him and say, ‘I don’t agree with the £80m, but I shouldn’t have said that and I’m sorry’. I went a little bit too far.

“He couldn’t believe it. Probably thought it was a joke. I don’t think he has had a fair crack. He’s struggling and he’s playing on the left when he’s right-footed."

Maguire no doubt agrees that the criticism of him goes too far, with reports that he blames his teammates, and specifically David de Gea for his issues.

And the 29-year-old isn't alone in defending himself, which is helpful because he probably wouldn't be that good at it, with fellow United defender Brandon Williams sticking up for him.

The full back, who was on loan at Norwich City last season, gave an impassioned defence of his captain and said the team don't listen to criticism from the outside world.

"People don’t listen to the outside world. Harry [Maguire] will go into training a hundred per cent every day," Williams said, "Harry will give, whether he’s starting the game, whether he’s not starting the game, one hundred per cent.

"We don't care about the outside world because like I said, the only thing that matters is the opinions on the inside. The opinions on the inside mean the most important."

Merson may have gone viral for his comments about Maguire but he's far more famous for laughing off the £52 million Manchester City paid for Kevin de Bruyne.

The former Arsenal star explained those comments too, saying, "People still come up to me when I’ve already said 50 times how great Kevin De Bruyne is.

"I only said what I saw. I’m a Chelsea fan. I also saw Mo Salah at Chelsea. They didn’t cut it. 

"They come back and are two of the best players in the world. Right place at the right time."