Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire started his club's first game of the season ahead of new signing Matthijs de Ligt but was withdrawn during the final 10 minutes

Erik ten Hag confirmed Harry Maguire was suffering from a "problem" during Manchester United's win over Fulham, but eased injury concerns over the centre-back.

Maguire missed out on a spot in England's Euro 2024 squad after failing to recover in time from injury. He has been involved in his team's pre-season prepatations, though, and started the Premier League opener.

The former club captain partnered Lisandro Martinez at the back, with new signing Matthijs de Ligt starting the game on the bench. He left the field in the closing stages, though, in a double change which saw Maguire and Noussair Mazraoui replaced by De Ligt and Jonny Evans.

It was a frustrating end to the night for Maguire, who had earlier been booked for what former United captain Gary Neville described as an "awkward" dive. However, Ten Hag's outlook was a relatively positive one.

United's win was a narrow one. Another of their new signings, Joshua Zirkzee, came off the bench and scored a late winner before Alejandro Garnacho missed a big chance to give the team a cushion.

"Scoring for a striker is important and he should be where he was, but he has more qualities and he has to get the right balance - he has to be arriving in the box to get the finishes, but we also want him to link up," the manager said. "We have some great midfielders around him to make up combinations."

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Joshua Zirkzee helped Manchester United get off to a winning start ( Image:

"I've been told [scoring at the Stretford End] is one of the best feelings at Man Utd. I'm so thankful and blessed I could experience it in my first game. It's an amazing feeling. At the end of the day we got the win, that's all we wanted. I can't really explain the feeling, it's just very nice.

"I feel very warm here. It's a great team. We want to achieve something great. It's been amazing, it's been a dream actually.The manager told me to bring an energy and help the team as much as possible, just that.

"Manchester United is a huge club. You should always strive for the best. That includes day by day giving 100%, that's the plan. It's all good vibes."

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