Sheffield United 2011–2012 in 2011 After coming through the youth system at
Sheffield United, and with the team struggling against relegation, Maguire was promoted to the
first-team squad, making his debut after coming on as a half-time substitute and winning the Man of the Match award in a home match against
Cardiff City in April 2011. He made four further appearances that season but could not prevent the club from being relegated to
League One. Having cemented his place in the first team, Maguire scored his first goal for United in a 2–0 win away
Oldham Athletic on the opening day of the
2011–12 League One season. Having been ever-present from the start of the season Maguire was handed an extended deal in October to keep him at
Bramall Lane until 2015. He continued in great form as United pushed for promotion from League One and was rewarded at the end of the season when he was named as both "Player of the Year" and "Young Player of the Year" by the club. The BBC's
Match of the Day magazine selected Maguire in its League One Team of The Year for 2011–12. By the end of February 2013, Maguire had made his 100th start for United in a 0–0 home draw against
Leyton Orient at the age of just 19. His performances during the
2012–13 and
2013–14 seasons earned him a place in the PFA Team of the Year for League One again.
Hull City 2014–2016 's victory in the
2016 Championship play-off final On 29 July 2014, Maguire joined Hull City in a deal worth £2.5 million, signing a three-year contract. He made his debut for the Tigers on 21 August in the
UEFA Europa League play-off round first leg away to
Lokeren of Belgium, a 1–0 defeat. He did not make his
Premier League debut until 20 December, when he replaced the injured
Curtis Davies for the final 13 minutes of a home loss by the same score against
Swansea City. After making only six appearances across all competitions at Hull, Maguire joined
Wigan Athletic of the Championship on a one-month
loan deal on 10 February 2015. A week later, he debuted in a 1–0 win at
Reading. On 28 February, he scored a header from
Jermaine Pennant's cross in a 3–1 win away to
Blackpool. Having played as many games in his month-long loan as he had for Hull in the first half of the season, Maguire's stay at the
DW Stadium was extended until the end of the season.
2016–2017 While Maguire was out on loan, Hull had been relegated to the Championship. On 28 May 2016, they won promotion back with a 1–0
play-off final win over
Sheffield Wednesday at
Wembley Stadium, with him replacing goalscorer
Mohamed Diamé in the final minute. In the 2016–17 season, Maguire established himself as a first-team regular under manager
Mike Phelan. Maguire scored his first goal for Hull on 25 October 2016 in a 2–1 away win against
Bristol City in the
EFL Cup. Maguire
captained Hull in their league victory against
Middlesbrough on 5 April 2017 and scored his first Premier League goal in the 4–2 win. In a season that ended with relegation, he was voted Hull's Player of the Year by both the fans and the players. He made his debut on 11 August as the season began with a 4–3 loss away to
Arsenal, and eight days later he scored his first goal for Leicester, heading in
Riyad Mahrez's corner to conclude a 2–0 home win over
Brighton & Hove Albion. He played in every minute of the
2017–18 season and was awarded Player of the Season, as well as Players' Player of the Season at the club's end of season awards. Amid speculation about a transfer to
Manchester United for a potential world-record fee for a defender, Leicester manager
Claude Puel confirmed on transfer deadline day of 9 August 2018 that Maguire would stay at the club, his only travel to Manchester being to face United with the Leicester squad in the fixture on the following evening. On 25 August 2018, Maguire scored a stoppage-time winner in a 2–1 win against Southampton, winning the man of the match award. On 29 September, he scored in a 2–0 win against Newcastle United, gaining the man of the match award. On 30 January 2019, Maguire scored the equalising goal in a 1–1 draw against Liverpool.
Manchester United 2019–20 season In July 2019, Manchester United made a £70 million bid for Maguire, a year after the club backed down from a deal because the same fee was considered too high. They made an improved bid, believed to be £80 million, which was accepted by Leicester on 2 August. The fee surpassed the £75 million
Liverpool paid for
Virgil van Dijk in January 2018, making Maguire
the world's most expensive defender. The transfer was completed on 5 August, with Maguire signing a six-year contract with the option of a further year. He made his United debut in their opening match of the Premier League season, a 4–0 home victory over
Chelsea on 11 August, and received the Man of the Match award. On 17 January 2020, Maguire was named as
club captain by manager
Ole Gunnar Solskjær following
Ashley Young's departure to
Inter Milan. Nine days later, he opened up a 6–0 FA Cup win against
Tranmere Rovers by scoring his first goal for United. He scored his first Premier League goal for United on 17 February against Chelsea in a 2–0 away win. On 27 June, after the three-month delay caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic, United's FA Cup run resumed with a quarter-final tie against
Norwich City which finished 2–1, Maguire scoring the winning goal deep into
extra time. He played a significant part in United's successful 2019–20 Premier League campaign, which saw the team finish in third place – their second-highest league finish since the retirement of
Alex Ferguson. He played in every minute of United's 38-game league campaign, becoming the first outfield player to do so for the club since 1995.
2020–21 season: Europa League final in 2021 On 17 October 2020, Maguire scored his first goal of the season, equalising in the 23rd minute in a league match against Newcastle United that eventually ended in a 4–1 away win. On 27 January 2021, he equalised in the 64th minute even though the match ended in a 2–1 home loss against his former club Sheffield United, which ended a 13-match unbeaten run since the team lost to Arsenal on 1 November 2020. When several teammates received racist threats following the loss, Maguire joined other past and present United players condemning the abuse. He played the full 90 minutes on 2 February in United's Premier League record-equalling
9–0 home win against
Southampton. On 25 April, in a scoreless draw against
Leeds United, he equalled
Gary Pallister's club record for playing the most league games without being substituted, by playing the full 90 minutes for his 71st consecutive Premier League game. He was unable to break the record, for owing to an ankle injury, he had to be substituted in the 72nd minute of the subsequent game on 9 May, a 3–1 home win over
Aston Villa. On 26 May, Maguire missed the
2021 Europa League final against
Villarreal due to injury, in which United lost on penalties after a 1–1 draw.
2021–2023: Loss of form and EFL Cup win On 20 October 2021, Maguire scored his first
Champions League goal in a 3–2 win over
Atalanta. On 20 February 2022, he scored his only Premier League goal of the season in 4–2 away win over Leeds United. Despite winning approximately twice as many duels as he lost in the 2020–21 season, Maguire admitted enduring a "tough" time in which Manchester United finished sixth with their lowest points tally since the formation of the Premier League, in which they conceded 57 goals during the season, the most since the 1978–79 season. Maguire also came under intense criticism for his performances as many believed he had failed to show consistency. In the
2022–23 season, Maguire started only eight Premier League matches as new manager
Erik ten Hag used
Raphaël Varane and
Lisandro Martínez as his first-choice central defensive partnership. On 26 February, Maguire won the
2023 EFL Cup final as Manchester United beat
Newcastle United 2–0 at
Wembley Stadium, winning his first trophy with the club though he did not start in the game. Maguire subsequently lifted the trophy with on-field captain
Bruno Fernandes, having agreed to do so beforehand providing United won the final. Recounting on his experiences of the
2022–23 season the year after the events occurring within it, Maguire commented: "I played a few games last year, I just didn't play as many as I would have liked… I had two or three opportunities to get a run of games but I broke down with illness and broke down with injuries twice, so I never got the rhythm and never got the run of games so I could prove myself to the manager [ten Hag]."
2023–present: Rise in form On 16 July 2023, Maguire announced that he had been stripped of the Manchester United captaincy after a discussion with manager Erik ten Hag. He was also linked with a transfer to
West Ham United. On 20 July,
Bruno Fernandes was named as Maguire's replacement as club captain. On 28 July, Manchester United rejected an offer of £20 million for Maguire from West Ham United. Two weeks later, the clubs agreed a fee of around £30 million. On 16 August, West Ham announced that there would be no transfer as Maguire wished to stay at Manchester United and fight for his place in the team. After a number of games in the
2023–24 season, Maguire replaced
Raphaël Varane in manager
Erik ten Hag's preferred centre-back pairing. Ten Hag stated that there had been "internal competition" due to Maguire's rich vein of form and said that his decision had been made due to "tactical reasons". On 7 October 2023, Maguire provided an assist for
Scott McTominay to score his second goal in late stoppage time to give United a 2–1 comeback win against
Brentford. On 24 October, he scored the only goal in his first
Champions League match of the season, which ended in a 1–0 victory against
Copenhagen, to be his club's first and only win in the competition that season. On 12 November, commenting on his decision to stay at Manchester United, Maguire stated: "I really enjoy playing for this club and I was willing to stay and fight for my place." He thus became the first United defender to win the award since
Nemanja Vidić in January 2009. On 21 April, he scored a goal against
Coventry City in the FA Cup. On 24 April, Maguire scored Manchester United's first goal in a 4–2 win against Sheffield United. During the
2024–25 season, Maguire started regularly in a 3-centre-back system for new United head coach
Ruben Amorim, stating in an interview with
MUTV: "I feel like I've been in a good place for 18 months to two years. There's no doubt I had a difficult spell, I kept my head down, I knew my chance would come and when the chance came I needed to be ready and focused to take it." On 7 February 2025, Maguire scored a last-minute headed goal against former club
Leicester to send United through to the fifth-round of the
FA Cup. Replays showed that Maguire was in an
offside position, and since
VAR was not present in the cup round, the goal stood. On 26 February 2025, Maguire scored the winning goal in a 3–2 win against
Ipswich Town. Later that year, on 17 April, in the
Europa League quarter-final second leg against French side
Olympique Lyonnais, Maguire provided an important assist and scored a stoppage time winner during extra time in the 120th minute. The goal sealed a 5–4 win on the night, and a 7–6 win on aggregate for United, securing their place in the Europa League semi-finals, having been 4–2 down (6–4 on aggregate) down just ten minutes earlier. On 27 August 2025, Maguire scored a last-minute equaliser against
Grimsby Town in the EFL Cup. On 20 September, Maguire provided the winning assist against
Chelsea in the Premier League. Almost a month later, on 19 October, he netted his first Premier League goal of the
2025–26 season, the winner in a 2–1 away victory over arch-rivals Liverpool, earning his club their first triumph at
Anfield since January 2016. On 13 January 2026,
Michael Carrick returned to Manchester United as head coach, replacing former manager Ruben Amorim. This led to a resurgence in form by both the club (
climbing from 6th to 3rd in the Premier League), and Maguire himself. Maguire received Man of the Match in a 3–2 win against
Arsenal. His form in Manchester United's unbeaten streak in the Premier League under Michael Carrick, from 17 January to 1 March, where he started all 7 games, received high praise from both fans and pundits alike. ==International career==