Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has received a bomb threat, leading to Cheshire police searching his house in northern England.
Police officers and an explosives dog searched Maguire’s home, where he lives with his fiancee and two children.
The threat comes after a string of poor performances by the central defender, who has been subject to abuse on social media and ridiculed by fans.
The team is in a bad run of form—they lost to Liverpool 0-4 on Tuesday—and is locked in a battle to grab the fourth and final Champions League spot in the English Premier League.
“In the last 24 hours, Harry has received a serious threat to his family home,” a spokesperson for Maguire said in a statement.”
“He has reported this to the police who are now looking into the matter. The safety of his family and those around him is obviously Harry’s number one priority. He will continue to prepare for this weekend’s fixture [at Arsenal] as normal and we will not be commenting in any further detail at this time.”
No evacuations took place, but as a precautionary measure a police explosives dog attended the address on Thursday to conduct a search of the gardens and surrounding area.
Former Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil was among those who took to Twitter to condemn the threat to Maguire's family.
“Just read the news about Harry Maguire... this is just insane. Football can never ever be that serious to be threatening a player and his family. I'm shocked. Sometimes football brings out the worst in people. Hopefully, all people involved get punished,” wrote Ozil.
- With inputs from PTI
