MANCHESTER United defender Harry Maguire has playfully accepted an apology from a Ghanaian member of parliament who had mocked him.
MP Isaac Adongo had derided the England defender during a debate in the parliament months ago and compared Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia’s economic management to Maguire’s performances on the pitch, referring to his political rival as ‘Economic Maguire’.
On Tuesday, Mr Adongo said he wanted to correct the record and hailed Maguire as a ‘transformational footballer’ who had turned his fortunes around with recent performances.
The video of the mocking speech, in which he also said Maguire ‘became the biggest threat at the centre of the Manchester United defence’, went viral on social media, leading to more abuse of the former Manchester United captain.
However, speaking to BBC’s Newsday programme, Mr Adongo explained that he had used “Harry Maguire’s struggle for form from 2021 to 2022” to communicate his dissatisfaction with Ghana’s economy.
“When Harry’s form improved, I felt that he deserved an apology. As a lover of football, it was important that I recognised his turnaround.”
“MP Issac Adongo, apology accepted. See you at Old Trafford soon,” Maguire replied to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, which shared Adongo’s apology. The defender added two emojis to show it was light-hearted banter.
When Mr Adongo was asked about Maguire accepting his apology, he said: “That humility has made my day, this brings closure.”
