COUNTY KILDARE, Ireland -- As Harry Maguire made the short walk from the hotel at Carton House to the pitches used by Manchester United during their training camp in County Kildare this week, there were only shouts of encouragement from the fans waiting patiently behind steel barriers for pictures and autographs.
There were congratulations, too, on Tuesday morning after United announced Maguire's new contract around 30 minutes before the players emerged for their first session in Ireland.
The overwhelming opinion among supporters is that CEO Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox have made a good decision in securing the 33-year-old defender's services for at least another year. There's a possibility the deal could be extended again until June 2028.
Whether it's one more year or two, the new contract caps a remarkable turnaround for a player who knows all too well how hard it can be for a high-profile footballer when things aren't going smoothly.
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On his last trip to Ireland with United in August 2023, Maguire was booed by sections of the crowd at Aviva Stadium in Dublin during a pre-season fixture against Athletic Club.
It came less than a month after he was stripped of the captaincy by Erik ten Hag in favour of Bruno Fernandes, and about five weeks before what Maguire remembers as the lowest moment of the most difficult spell of his career.
Having come on as a half-time substitute for England against Scotland at Hampden Park in September 2023, his every touch was mockingly cheered by the home fans. It didn't help that Maguire scored an own goal, but afterwards the reaction to his performance became too much for his family.
"Seeing him go through what he's going through is not OK," his mother, Zoe, wrote in an emotional post on Instagram. "As a mum, seeing the level of negative and abusive comments which my son is receiving is disgraceful and totally unacceptable in any walk of life, never mind someone who works his socks off for club and country."
Two-and-a-half years on, and Maguire is back in favour at United, playing well and popular again and he can finally allow himself to see the funny side.
"My mum put something out," he says with a smile. "I didn't want her to but she just said, 'I'm doing it! I'm not listening to you!'