'He was fantastic… I think he gave the team confidence': Jose Mourinho hails Harry Maguire after he was named man of the match on debut as former Manchester United boss rues not signing him last year
* Harry Maguire delivered an assured showing on his Man United debut
* The £80m England international was named man of the match at Old Trafford
* United eased to an impressive 4-0 victory against Chelsea on Sunday evening
* And former boss Jose Mourinho lavished praise on Maguire's performance
Jose Mourinho praised Harry Maguire's performance after the £80million signing's Manchester United debut - labeling him 'strong like a rock'.
The former Leicester centre-half, who leapfrogged Virgil van Dijk to become the world's most expensive defender last week - delivered an assured showing in United's 4-0 victory against Chelsea.
Maguire was named as the man of the match at Old Trafford, and former Red Devils boss Mourinho lavished praise on the 26-year-old.
Harry Maguire was named man of the match on his Man United debut against Chelsea. The hosts kept a clean sheet at Old Trafford in their Premier League opener and won 4-0. Former United boss Jose Mourinho praised Maguire's showing a year after he tried to sign him
Speaking in his first appearance as a Sky Sports pundit, Mourinho said: 'I think he fully deserves the man of the match. He was solid like a rock. As we know he is very important for a team to have not just the tactical knowledge to have that personality the sense of reading the game all the time.
'He was fantastic, absolutely deserved. I think he gave the team confidence. If you feel that the mistake is around the corner - the defensive mistake is around the corner - your confidence goes. When there is something there that allows you to play you feel more confident to do it.'
The Portuguese tactician was also questioned about Victor Lindelof and Maguire's budding partnership, and revealed he had wanted to sign the latter to play alongside the Swede during his tenure at Manchester.
Maguire said United had rode their luck in the first half but believed the result was justified
'You're right,' Mourinho added when asked about his desire to recruit the Sheffield-born rearguard. 'One year later!'
The former Chelsea boss was denied the chance to splash the cash on a new centre-half at Old Trafford, having already signed Eric Bailly and Lindelof during his two seasons in charge.
But Maguire finally made his move to the top flight giants under successor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and the stalwart stressed the importance of shutting out the opposition for United.
In his post-match interview, he said: 'It's a great start for myself and the team. We rode our luck a bit in the first half but in the second half we were a lot better. I think we thoroughly enjoyed the result in the end.
'We gave it away in dangerous areas where they could have scored but then in second half we kept the ball better. It was a convincing win in the end and a clean sheet as well.
'I was reiterating on the pitch that we wanted a clean sheet. We really need to make this place a fortress. We aren't getting carried away, we will keep improving.'
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