Harry Maguire STAYS at Man Utd!
The defender will NOT be moving to West Ham
There has been a lot of news around this story over the past day or two. It came out that Harry Maguire will remain at Old Trafford despite all the rumors linking him with a move to the London Stadium.
Maguire had even agreed personal terms with West Ham suggesting that the potential transfer was moving quickly. However, it has been said that The Hammers have become quite annoyed with how long it is taking for him to leave United.
It’s gotten to a point where Moyes and co have started to look elsewhere in terms of bring in a new defender to London. Not good news for United.
Why all this sudden change?
Maguire wants to receive a £15m compensation from MUFC before completing his move. The club on the other hand, will only give him around £6m, according to Goal.com.
With two years left on his current contract at United (which is worth close to £200k per week!) that compensation fee of £15m will allow him to move to West Ham and still earn around that £200k mark as The Hammers can only offer the former MUFC captain £100–£120k per week.
This decision tells me that Maguire is being greedy. Sure he can demand that money but at the risk of harming your career, that is a risk I wouldn’t take.
Looking at his current situation at Man Utd, it doesn’t bode well for him. He has been:
- Dropped from the first team
- Stripped off the captaincy
- Is 5th choice CB (even Shaw is potentially ahead of him)
- Risks not playing for England
At 30-years-old, time is of the essence for him in his football career. Of course everyone wants to play for the best clubs but when it’s just not working for you and there’s a very good offer on the table, why not take it?
Playing for West Ham isn’t a bad move. They’re a good club, they’re the current Conference League champions, play decent football, Maguire suits the way they play and there was a chance that David Moyes could give him the captain’s armband.
Plus he’ll get to play regular first team football and won’t run the risk of not playing for his beloved England.
Saying no to all that for a few million pounds? He’s already made more than what most people will make in a lifetime and £100–£120k a week isn’t exactly chump change.
We also know that Erik ten Hag is looking to bring in another centre-back. Benjamin Pavard seemed to be the most likely. But in order to do this deal, players needed to be sold. As Pavard is a CB and so is Maguire, this would be a sort of straight swap.
West Ham were willing to pay £30m for Harry while Pavard was going to cost around the same.
So thanks to Maguire staying, the club won’t receive any money nor will they be able to bring in another player. Pavard is top class and a proven winner, one who is a much better centre-back than Maguire and can offer plenty more. ten Hag also appears to be eager to bring in the services of the Bayern defender over any other.
Harry remaining at the club looks to be going against the manager’s wills.
Final Thoughts
I really don’t know what game Maguire is trying to play. Sacrificing a year at least of your career in order to bring a few extra millions? Makes no sense to me.
This also has an effect on the squad ten Hag is trying to build. There are players he wants to get rid of and players he wants to sign, as we’ve seen since he’s come in. Erik looks like the type who will be quite frustrated if he doesn’t get what he wants.
Although Harry feels that he could fight for a first team spot (which is admirable), we all know that he is just not good enough to do so. Varane and Martinez are way ahead of him in quality, Lindelof seems to be the backup and even Luke Shaw has a better chance of playing at CB than Harry.
The manager had some pretty brutal comments regarding the England defender. He said: “When he is not confident enough to fight then he has to go, then he has to make a decision.”
Although Erik has said that he is happy with Harry, the very little game time and stripping him off the captaincy would suggest otherwise.
I guess Harry must be content with parking on the bench for a while.
Could he be our worst ever signing?
What do you make of this Maguire situation?
#HARRYMAGUIRE #ERIKTENHAG #MUFC #GGMU #GLAZERSOUT
