Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has named the only thing he would leave the VAR system for.
On June 6, 20 Premier League clubs will vote on waiving VAR from next season. At the moment, the chances of this technology being removed are minimal.
However, Maguire would prefer to use VAR only when determining offsides, leaving decisions on penalties and removals solely to the referee in the field.
“I think opinions will be divided about this, and many people will want to leave VAR. At the same time, many advocate getting rid of it. Perhaps this system should work better.”
“From next season, there will be automatic offsides, and this will improve the VAR. Decisions will be made faster.”
“Personally, I would leave VAR only for offsides. For everything else, I would remove it, considering the opinions. Offsides are an actual thing, not a subjective thing.”
“It’s so difficult to lose a match because of a goal when a player is two or three meters offside. Everyone makes mistakes, linesmen make mistakes, so I would leave VAR for that.”
“But I wouldn’t use VAR for red cards or penalties because, even now, people are arguing about whether it’s the right decision or not.”
“Some players want to get rid of VAR. Fixed VAR offsides slightly kill goal celebrations. Somewhere deep down, the players doubt whether the goal will be counted or not.”
“I definitely don’t want to see penalties awarded because of VAR. Let only the referee make this decision.”
“There have been too many controversial penalties this season. Penalties decide football matches, and this is such an important aspect of the game.”
“Of course, I am a defender, and I would not say otherwise. Perhaps the attackers will say they want these controversial penalties.”
“But personally, I don’t want to see these controversial penalties, thanks to which football matches are won. It should be a clear penalty. It’s the same with red cards — let the referee decide.”
“We want football to be a contact sport. We want football to be aggressive. We want the players to feel like they can go into a tough fight if it’s fair and not dangerous,” Maguire told The Sun.