"He cannot stay there and play second fiddle" – Rio Ferdinand once again tells Manchester United star to leave the club this summer

Manchester United great Rio Ferdinand has once again urged Red Devils captain Harry Maguire to secure a permanent switch away from his club in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Maguire, 30, has been reduced to a squad role in the ongoing 2022-23 campaign after failing to impress Erik ten Hag in the early weeks of his reign. So far, he has started just 15 out of his 30 appearances across all competitions.

During a recent interaction on his YouTube channel FIVE, Ferdinand was queried whether Maguire should be sold by Manchester United ahead of next season. He responded:

"I think he needs to. If he wants to resurrect his career, he has to go in the summer. He cannot stay there and play second fiddle if he genuinely wants to stay as a regular England player and get back on track."

Maguire, who arrived from Leicester City for a world-record £80 million in the summer of 2019, is believed to leave as he has even fallen behind Luke Shaw in the pecking order.

He was linked with a winter switch to Aston Villa earlier this year after the defender was spotted at a restaurant in Birmingham with his agent at the weekend, in a location near Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground.

Earlier this January, Ferdinand first urged the Sheffield United youth product to depart his club. He told FIVE:

"If you're him, you have to leave now. Luke Shaw's playing centre-back instead of him. That's like me going back after the World Cup, playing well, everyone saying he's done really well, and then Patrice Evra is playing centre-back. I'd want to strangle Patrice! I would've smashed Patrice in training to make sure he's not available."

Overall, Maguire has scored seven goals and laid out five assists in 174 matches for Manchester United. He also won the English League Cup with them earlier this year.

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Manchester United defender Harry Maguire backed to join Aston Villa

In his column for Caught Offside, former Liverpool star Stan Collymore stated that Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire should depart his club ahead of the upcoming 2023-24 campaign. He wrote:

"Although I think the criticism he receives is hugely unfair at times, I think Maguire, for his own sake, has to leave Old Trafford at the end of the ongoing season. He's a quality centre-back who puts his body on the line, but he does have his limitations; it's just a case of putting others around him to mask those certain areas of weakness."

Backing the Manchester United star to shine at Aston Villa, Collymore continued:

"Personally, I think a team like Aston Villa are able to offer him that. I would love to see him there – I'd drive him from Manchester to the Midlands myself. A club like Villa and Maguire would be a match made in heaven – they're big enough to match his ambition and they've got an experienced manager who could get the best out of him."

Should Maguire join Aston Villa this summer, he would provide solid competition to Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa at the heart of defence. He could boost his chances of international selection with considerable first-team minutes.

According to Transfermarkt, Maguire is currently valued at around £22 million.