Harry Maguire: Manchester United captain to keep armband after suspended prison sentence
Written by News on 26/08/2020
Manchester United intend to stick with Harry Maguire as club captain for the upcoming season.
Maguire was given a 21-month suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and repeated attempts of bribery.
The 27-year-old was convicted of all the charges against him by a court on the island of Syros. He was arrested with his brother and a friend after a fight broke out while he was on holiday in Mykonos over claims his sister was injected with a suspected “rape drug”.
In their statement on Tuesday, Manchester United said Maguire would be appealing against the sentence and the player “continues to strongly assert his innocence”.
Sky Sports News understands Maguire has left Greece and is expected to return to Manchester in the coming days.
Following the court’s verdict, the defender was withdrawn from Gareth Southgate’s England squad, having been initially included for next month’s Nations League matches.
Analysis: ‘England decision gives United time’
Sky Sports News reporter James Cooper…
“With England’s decision, it reflects dialogue between Gareth Southgate, Harry Maguire and Manchester United and it was taken as the right reason to take him out of the firing line.
“It gives him and Manchester United plenty of time to work out what they want to do in terms of the captaincy.
“There is no suggestion that Harry Maguire will have the captaincy taken from him. What’s been abundantly clear is Manchester United are backing their man.
“Manchester United have been as supportive as any club could possibly be in these circumstances.”
‘Court appeal process could take time’
With Maguire’s team set to appeal Tuesday’s verdict, James Cooper analyses the timeline for the potential legal proceedings…
“For those people thinking it might be imminent, I don’t think it will be.
“This will take some time to happen, but there’s optimism in the Manchester United camp and in the Harry Maguire legal team given the right sort of appeal and preparation.
“They feel they were rushed through the whole court proceedings after being given the evidence the night before the trial started.
“Their feeling is they have strong enough evidence for this whole thing to be overturned in time.
“It’s a question of how long that will all take. It will certainly take a big degree of time.”
(c) Sky Sports 2020: Harry Maguire: Manchester United captain to keep armband after suspended prison sentence
