The former Dutch international told Bet365’s Full Circle that the club captain should go in order to obtain regular first-team play.
Former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam has pushed the club’s current captain, Harry Maguire, to leave Old Trafford.
Maguire has struggled to adjust to coach Erik ten Hag’s style of play, with the England international currently often warming the replacements’ bench.
And three-time Premier League champion Stam, who helped United to a UEFA Champions League crown during his stay, thinks Maguire’s time is up.
“If I was Maguire, looking at him and how it’s working out for him, or how it’s going this season, I would have said [he should leave], and I think that’s best for him as well because he needs to play,” Stam said. “You’re at a certain age that you want to play, you need to play football. It seems like Ten Hag doesn’t always believe in Maguire. I think the best thing to do is to go somewhere where you can play week in, week out.”
Former Dutch international Stam was speaking to Adam Catterall on the debut episode of Full Circle, presented by Bet365.
And Stam himself knows what it’s like to leave a club the size of United due to differences with a manager.
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He joined United from PSV in 1998 in what he labelled the “greatest moment” of his career, but was shown the door by Sir Alex Ferguson just three years later after falling out with his boss over the release of a controversial autobiography.
“That was a very low point… The book deal of course was a big part of that,” Stam revealed. “I could have stayed, of course, I could have said to the club that I don’t want to leave.
“Eventually, I might play again, but the manager at that time went with different players… I would be on the bench. And he knew with my mentality, and the type of player I was, that I always wanted to play.”
