Harry Maguire vows Man Utd performances won’t be affected by Greek court case

Harry Maguire insists his Greek court case ordeal won’t affect his Manchester United performances – as he revealed his agony over his England axe.

Maguire will return to training with his United team-mates on Monday as they prepare for the new Premier League season.

The Red Devils skipper should have been joining up with the England squad on Monday – but was stood down after he was convicted of assaulting a police offer and attempted bribery.

Maguire now faces a retrial after his legal team this week lodged an appeal against the conviction, which came following the incident on the island of Mykonos in the early hours of last Friday.

The 27-year-old now has a long court battle ahead of him – but says it won’t affect his performances as he looks forward to United’s first game of the season against Crystal Palace on September 19.

“It will not affect my performances. I will get over it pretty quickly,” Maguire said in an interview with The Sun.

He praised United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and England boss Gareth Southgate for their support during the ordeal.

“It was really hard,” he said. “I have great respect for both and they have been magnificent for my career. Gareth showed great faith in me since giving me my debut. The club have been great with me and I thank them for that.”

And Maguire said he was gutted not to be involved in the Three Lions squad ahead of their games against Iceland and Denmark next month – but vowed he would come back stronger.

“I love playing for my county but, mentally, I’ll get over this,” he said.

In an interview with the BBC earlier this week, Maguire said he feared he was being kidnapped when he fled from plain clothed police officers and was arrested in Mykonos.

In his description of the incident, he claimed he believed he was being kidnapped and had no idea the men he alleges were attacking him were actually police when he tried to run away.

Sign up for the brilliant new Mirror Football newsletter!

From the latest transfer news to the agenda-setting stories, get it all in your email inbox.

Put your email at the top of this article or follow the instructions on this link.

Maguire was handed a 21-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, after being found guilty of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and repeated attempts of bribery.

But United have said the player’s appeal nullifies Tuesday’s ruling in a Greek court, meaning Maguire has no criminal record ahead of a full retrial.