Michail Antonio rages over West Ham United-linked Harry Maguire
West Ham forward Michail Antonio has raged at the “embarrassing” abuse that Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has received.
Speaking on the Footballers’ Football Podcast, the 33-year-old said the criticism of the England international, who was linked with a move to the Hammers over the summer, has “gone too far” and that he has never seen in football someone be “absolutely destroyed” any time he does something wrong.
The Jamaican international praised England manager Gareth Southgate for standing up for the 30-year-old defender after the game against Scotland, adding that it should have been “brought up before”.
“It’s gone way too far – it’s actually embarrassing,” said Antonio. “I’ve never seen this ever in football, how one person can be absolutely destroyed any time he does anything wrong, [even when] it’s not his fault and he’s just involved in it.
“People do forget that people are human and obviously this will affect them mentally. He went from being an unbelievable centre-half, I think one of the best in the Premier League when he was at Hull and Leicester, to half-a-man.
“He’s trying to stay strong, to rebuild himself. He believes in his ability. Right now it’s just not working for him.
“When I saw Gareth Southgate speak up, I was like ‘well done’. It should have been brought up before. It’s been a whole two years.”
There’s a line
There is a line when it comes to criticising players and, once it crosses over and turns into abuse, that is when it’s gone too far and that is the stage where the situation is at with Maguire.
Antonio is one of the first footballers who are probably likely to come out in support of the defender over the coming days and weeks, as the story is going to continue rumbling on.
The Englishman perhaps didn’t help himself by not moving on from Man United, but he doesn’t deserve this huge pile on, especially at a time when talk around mental health has actually taken steps forward.
At the end of the day, footballers are there to be criticised for their performances and, yes, Maguire did make a mistake against Scotland and he’ll accept that it wasn’t good enough.
It just feels like there has become an unhealthy obsession with the centre-back over the past few months and something will have to give soon.
In other West Ham news, a journalist has shared how one signing could be made after the Hammers’ recent actions.