Former Engand attacker, Peter Crouch has said he hates the way and manner Harry Maguire has been villainised at Manchester United.
He said the treatment meted out to the player was highly condemnable and unacceptable.
Abuses have been directed at the Manchester United defender down the years and at some point, he was stripped of the club’s captain armband.
Maguire was the hero when Manchester United beat Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, rising the highest to thud a towering header beyond Giorgi Mamardashvili in the Liverpool goal.
The England international has made a habit of coming to the rescue by scoring late goals for Manchester United, with five of his last six efforts coming in the 84th minute or later.
Maguire rejected the move by Manchester United to offload him to West Ham and vowed to fight for his future at Old Trafford.
“I’m just really, really pleased for him,’ Crouch said of Maguire on That Peter Crouch Podcast.
“Throughout my career, there have been points where I’ve been low and I’ve had a lot of grief, a lot of stick, so I kind of know what that’s like.
“For him to get that amount of grief, it was above and beyond what is acceptable, I think.
“Attacking his family, his personality, the way he looks, everything was wrong about the way he’s been villainised at that club.
“I just think it shows absolutely massive bollocks to consistently to go [and perform],’ the former Liverpool, Tottenham and Portsmouth forward added.
“Even the game against Liverpool, it was like, ‘Ah, why’s he playing?!’ there’s always this whole thing of being down on him starting.
“Listen, there have been times where he hasn’t been good enough and that’sbeen called out, but I think the stick went beyond football.”
He is expected to be named in Ruben Amorim’s starting XI when the play Brighton on Saturday.