The 29-year old Maguire, who lives with his fiancé, Fern Hawkins, and two young children, received this threat ahead of criticism for his performance as Manchester United captain; the football team had sustained a 4-0 defeat by Liverpool on the Tuesday before the report. Maguire joined Manchester United in 2019 for £80 million and was appointed captain six months after signing.
No bomb has been found on the premises and no evacuations had to be made at the Maguire household. Though information on the threat was initially scarce, it was revealed that the threat had been sent via email to Maguire’s agent by a ‘cowardly fan’. The email threatened to detonate three bombs in Maguire household if the Manchester United captain did not leave the team within 72 hours.
The threat has been sent via email to Maguire's agent by a 'cowardly fan'
Following the search and according to The Sun, Maguire has been staying with a teammate since the events on Thursday, while his fiancé and children have been taken to a safe house.
Maguire was subsequently benched at the Premier League match against Arsenal in the opening XI, with Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof beginning instead. Commenting on his decision to bench Maguire, Ralf Rangnick admitted that the decision was made in two parts: (1) the ordeal that Maguire had faced earlier that week and (2) his so-far poor performance as captain, despite his success in the Euros.
Multiple online petitions have been started to either remove Maguire from captaincy or from the team entirely; the captaincy petition has reached close to 50,000 signatures.