Manchester United captain Harry Maguire insists trauma of Greek trial hasn’t affected him

Harry Maguire insists he has put the trauma of his arrest in Greece last summer behind him and is fully focused on playing for Manchester United.

The United captain was found guilty of repeated bodily harm, attempted bribery and violence against public employees following the incident during a family holiday on Mykonos, although the conviction has been nullified while he appeals.

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said that he would monitor Maguire’s state of mind during the early weeks of the season and the 27-year-old’s form has been criticised – not least after he was sent off on England duty against Denmark last month.

But Maguire believes that his mind-set is fine as he prepares to lead out United in their Champions League clash with Istanbul Basaksehir in Turkey on Wednesday night.

‘My mind is fully focused on football,’ he said. ‘Obviously I had a difficult period in the summer but now I’m fully focused. I come into training each day and work as hard as I can. I focus on each game as it comes.

‘Now I can only say I’m still fully focused each day on keeping improving and taking this club forward.’

Asked how he switched off from social media criticism, he added: ‘Don’t go on it, don’t read it.’

Maguire also dismissed suggestions by former United skipper Roy Keane in the wake of Sunday’s home defeat to Arsenal that Solskjaer’s side lack leaders.

‘I can say that I haven’t seen his comments, but especially after a negative result we don’t allow any negativity into the place,’ he said.

‘We stay positive and I can for sure say there are a lot of leaders in this squad. I’m the captain and I’ve got a lot of leadership around me – staff and players. For sure, there are a lot of leaders in this squad.’

United’s Champions League form, which includes two impressive wins over Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig, is in start contrast to their Premier League results which have brought three home defeats in the opening six games.

‘It’s not a case of Premier League or Champions League game, we just go into the game and try to win it,’ said Maguire. ‘Obviously our Premier League results haven’t been as good, but we go in with the same focus and preparation.

‘We’re focussed on tomorrow night’s game which is a Champions League one and hopefully we can put in a performance that we’ve shown we can do in the competition.

‘The main thing is working hard, coming onto training every day and trying to improve. Obviously we want to be consistent.

‘I feel at the start of last season we were a bit inconsistent, our results and performances showed that. There was lots of consistency after the lockdown period and we managed to achieve Champions League football. So we’ve got to find it within the group, but it comes from working and training hard.’

On his form, he added: ‘As the captain I focus more on the team than the individual. Defensively we didn’t start in the best shape against Crystal Palace, we were too open.

‘Against Tottenham we left ourselves open especially when we went down to 10 men. To concede six in any game, especially at this club, isn’t good enough so we’ve worked hard on that since we’ve come back from the international break.

‘Since then we’ve been really good and not conceded many chances at all. We feel like we on the right track and we’ve got the balance right.’