Manchester United’s Harry Maguire and Eric den Haag have been nominated for the Premier League (PL) Player and Manager of the Month awards for November, respectively.
The PL’s governing body announced the six nominees for the November Player of the Month and four nominees for the Manager of the Month awards for the 2023-24 season on its official website on Tuesday.
The Player of the Month nominees are Jeremy Dawson (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle), Tomasz Kaminski (Luton Town), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Chelsea), and Marcus Tavernier (Bournemouth).
Maguire’s name stands out. “As United enjoyed a perfect November, center-back Maguire played every minute of the game and staged a remarkable comeback to win three games without conceding a goal,” the PL Secretariat said of Maguire’s performance.
What a turnaround. Maguire was struggling at the start of the season. Playing for the Red Devils since 2019, Maguire hadn’t performed badly, and he even became the team’s captain. However, after the 2021-22 season, he didn’t really hit his stride.
This season was no different. His position became increasingly unstable and he was stripped of the captaincy before the start of the season. Relegated to a bench role, Maguire has been on the bench since the start of the season.
However, things have changed recently. He started against Crystal Palace in the third round of the English Football League Cup (EFL Cup) and had a solid performance. He then appeared in the eighth round of the Premier League (PL) against Brentford, where he assisted Scott McTominay’s late winner in stoppage time. As his performances continued to improve, Maguire scored the winning header in the third leg of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) group stage against Copenhagen.
He has gradually reclaimed his place in the side and helped United win all of their league games in November. Maguire has been a consistent starter and full-time player of late. In November, United won at Fulham, Luton, and Everton, and kept three consecutive clean sheets. This was significant as they had only kept two clean sheets in the 10 games leading up to October. The team climbed up to sixth in the table.
Maguire’s performance also earned Ten Haag a nomination for Coach of the Month, as he won all three games. “Despite being without a number of first-team players due to injury, United moved up to sixth place with wins over Fulham, Luton and Everton and a clean sheet. Only six points separate them from first-place Arsenal,” the organization explained.