I really think that having the captaincy taken away from Maguire has done him the world of good.
I'll fully admit I don't think I fully appreciated how much of a mistake it was for Ole to give him the armband. I'm not saying this because I necessarily think he lacks the personal qualities to be the captain (that's difficult for any of us to judge), but he just didn't have the credit built up amongst the fanbase to make it work. He was already under massive amounts of pressure to perform owing to the record fee that our masterful negotiators paid for him, and the captaincy only amplified it further.
I maintain that had Maguire's price tag been around 50 million and had Ole not given him the captaincy, the discourse around him would be quite considerably different. People forget that prior to his move to United, Maguire was actually one of the most well-liked members of the England squad. The price tag combined with the captaincy, neither of which were his blunders, unfortunately set the expectations far above what he l was ever going to be capable of meeting. I think that has meant that people are often incapable of seeing Maguire for what he is, which is a pretty solid option at the back for a Premier League side.