Harry Maguire - City to HIJACK United's £75m deal

Originally Posted by Tiberian

I don't see it with Maguire. He is good on the ball and the courage of his willingness to play is admirable, but I have serious doubts over his defensive impact.

It feels like a default signing, just like Lukaku, you see the issues, doubt his long term suitability but he is signed in the hope that he can make a short term impact. The worry is, just like Rom, you end up stuck with him on top end wages or making a huge loss limiting future flexibility. I would prefer Utd waited until they identified the right player.

Top 4 is the goal this year, and defensively we obviously need to improve on what was a dreadful year last time around. That was not just on the CB's though, in midfield it was a disaster with a immobile Matic and a Pogba with little interest in defending. We were so easy to get at, add to that the rb being a shambles and D Gea having the worst season of his career and it could not have gone worse at that end. AWB is going to make a difference, take a great deal of pressure off the RCB, give more security in general. How they approach midfield is key, expecting The Scottish Player to take on an important role this year, give greater cover to the defensive unit.

Is it too much of a risk to wait to the Winter Transfer Window to go back in for Maguire? It looks as if Ole wants to use Tuanzebe this year, how much money have Liverpool saved through backing Alexander-Arnold and Gomez?

they bought gomez

Originally Posted by puressence

they bought gomez

I had thought he was a youth product, 3.5 mill from Charlton though, a win for their scouting team.

Originally Posted by Part 36 Offer

Hopefully we get him. Everything is agreed aside from the final fee with Leicester. Think we will get him and he will be club captain within a year.

Originally Posted by AK14

Yeah but that was because they wanted to show Mourinho who was boss and didn’t trust him to spend anymore money blah blah blah £#%&!ing blah...



Luckily it looks like we have a couple of promising kids coming through, just hope Ole trusts them enough over some of the dross in the squad.

You won't win anything with kids (especially when they aren't good enough).

Not in this day and age.

I don't see it with Maguire. He is good on the ball and the courage of his willingness to play is admirable, but I have serious doubts over his defensive impact.

It feels like a default signing, just like Lukaku, you see the issues, doubt his long term suitability but he is signed in the hope that he can make a short term impact. The worry is, just like Rom, you end up stuck with him on top end wages or making a huge loss limiting future flexibility. I would prefer Utd waited until they identified the right player.

Top 4 is the goal this year, and defensively we obviously need to improve on what was a dreadful year last time around. That was not just on the CB's though, in midfield it was a disaster with a immobile Matic and a Pogba with little interest in defending. We were so easy to get at, add to that the rb being a shambles and D Gea having the worst season of his career and it could not have gone worse at that end. AWB is going to make a difference, take a great deal of pressure off the RCB, give more security in general. How they approach midfield is key, expecting The Scottish Player to take on an important role this year, give greater cover to the defensive unit.

Is it too much of a risk to wait to the Winter Transfer Window to go back in for Maguire? It looks as if Ole wants to use Tuanzebe this year, how much money have Liverpool saved through backing Alexander-Arnold and Gomez?

Maybe they think he is the right player mate. Plenty of managers seem to rate him. We can certainly use someone who is dominant in the air because De Gea and Lindelof are weak vs high balls.

I think we’re looking for a leader as much as anything. Someone who can marshal a defence and be a positive influence in the dressing room. Players like that are becoming rarer these days -we used to have half a dozen in one team ffs- and can pay for themselves just by raising everyone else’s game 20%. There’s a certain influence that players have over each other that managers can’t replicate. If this lot get reamed out by a manager they just £#%&!ing sulk and down tools. It’s harder to do that when it’s coming from a peer. We badly need some dressing room scraps.

Originally Posted by utd99

Maybe they think he is the right player mate. Plenty of managers seem to rate him. We can certainly use someone who is dominant in the air because De Gea and Lindelof are weak vs high balls.

I think we’re looking for a leader as much as anything. Someone who can marshal a defence and be a positive influence in the dressing room. Players like that are becoming rarer these days -we used to have half a dozen in one team ffs- and can pay for themselves just by raising everyone else’s game 20%. There’s a certain influence that players have over each other that managers can’t replicate. If this lot get reamed out by a manager they just £#%&!ing sulk and down tools. It’s harder to do that when it’s coming from a peer. We badly need some dressing room scraps.

That is all true. Maguire as a leader though, not sure what it is based on. He is a visible, eye catching player, and some of those bursts forward can certainly lift the team and crowd but I think he is an average defender. Watch him for England and that defense with him as a key member is far from secure. A lot of hype after the WC, mainly based on his danger from set pieces but against the better teams he looked very uncertain defensively, and far from the steadying force we need, at times indecisive on the ball as the pressure came on as well. Mediocre season last year as well, those mistakes that people ignore at Leicester will be hyper analyzed at Utd.

Maybe he is that leader, Utd should be hearing things about his character that we can only speculate over.

Just on Lindelöf, I think we need to hold off on anointing him as a mainstay of the team just yet. Ok last year, not going to go any higher than that, needs to keep improving.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

That is all true. Maguire as a leader though, not sure what it is based on. He is a visible, eye catching player, and some of those bursts forward can certainly lift the team and crowd but I think he is an average defender. Watch him for England and that defense with him as a key member is far from secure. A lot of hype after the WC, mainly based on his danger from set pieces but against the better teams he looked very uncertain defensively, and far from the steadying force we need, at times indecisive on the ball as the pressure came on as well. Mediocre season last year as well, those mistakes that people ignore at Leicester will be hyper analyzed at Utd.

Maybe he is that leader, Utd should be hearing things about his character that we can only speculate over.

Just on Lindelöf, I think we need to hold off on anointing him as a mainstay of the team just yet. Ok last year, not going to go any higher than that, needs to keep improving.

Standards have dropped so pitifully low and prices so sky high

Originally Posted by Tiberian

That is all true. Maguire as a leader though, not sure what it is based on. He is a visible, eye catching player, and some of those bursts forward can certainly lift the team and crowd but I think he is an average defender. Watch him for England and that defense with him as a key member is far from secure. A lot of hype after the WC, mainly based on his danger from set pieces but against the better teams he looked very uncertain defensively, and far from the steadying force we need, at times indecisive on the ball as the pressure came on as well. Mediocre season last year as well, those mistakes that people ignore at Leicester will be hyper analyzed at Utd.

Maybe he is that leader, Utd should be hearing things about his character that we can only speculate over.

Just on Lindelöf, I think we need to hold off on anointing him as a mainstay of the team just yet. Ok last year, not going to go any higher than that, needs to keep improving.

Yep.

Watched him recently for England v Holland. Tyler and Neville both acknowledged that England's centre backs need protecting.

Stones and Maguire. A £50m defender and a potential £90m defender.

Rio, Terry, Campbell, Carragher didn't need protecting.

Leicester are not very good at the back. Nor are England. He makes mistakes. He's not fast, he's not exactly a 'rolls Royce' type of defender.

I just don't see a top level player there. And that's what we're paying for and hope he will be for us.

A decent, solid premier league defender. Nothing more.

I cant believe there aren't better players we could get than him.

The world's best young defender just went for £68m.

Re Lindelof. Most of the praise seemed to stem from the stark contrast to how shit he was at first.

He's become our best CB though and we cant work on the proviso that our better players will regress or we'll never get anything done.

rather have a full season of axel

Originally Posted by puressence

rather have a full season of axel

Same.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

That is all true. Maguire as a leader though, not sure what it is based on. He is a visible, eye catching player, and some of those bursts forward can certainly lift the team and crowd but I think he is an average defender. Watch him for England and that defense with him as a key member is far from secure. A lot of hype after the WC, mainly based on his danger from set pieces but against the better teams he looked very uncertain defensively, and far from the steadying force we need, at times indecisive on the ball as the pressure came on as well. Mediocre season last year as well, those mistakes that people ignore at Leicester will be hyper analyzed at Utd.

Maybe he is that leader, Utd should be hearing things about his character that we can only speculate over.

Just on Lindelöf, I think we need to hold off on anointing him as a mainstay of the team just yet. Ok last year, not going to go any higher than that, needs to keep improving.

We can only do what we can do to improve incrementally. Like any transfer it might not work out, but is that really a reason not to act? We know Maguire has some good attributes, and we know the players we have are not good enough. Theoretically, we should be able to offset this purchase with the sale of Rojo, Bailly and Jones and make most of it back. The addition of Tuanzebe into the group should make up the rest seeing as he cost £#%&! all.

People talk about van Dijk as though it was a nailed on success, but it’s total hindsight. He was sound for Celtic and Southampton, but he wasn’t pulling up any trees, and a year earlier Liverpool were playing games, unsettling the player and baulking at shelling out 40m; and I don’t recall anyone not laughing at the 75m they eventually paid. Similarly, you hear the name Koulibaly bandied around a lot, but how many times do you think people have seen him actually play, and how would he fare in a completely different league? I saw him play in England twice last year -I think against Liverpool and Arsenal in Europe, but I may be wrong- and both times he was mostly shite.

We need to decide and we need to act. If we get analysis paralysis, we’ll end up with another year of Smalling and Jones stinking out the gaff.

Apparently some credible Leicester itk (I know, I know..) says the transfer will be completed soon and the last few stumbling blocks have been sorted?

Tier?

Southgate and others think he is better than Smalling and Jones so the question is can we get better?

1. We don't know how good he is or might be. Stones hasn't worked out well but then who would have guessed how good Bruce and Pallister would be

2. Who is better who is available. We have tried Rojo, and Bailly neither of whom has been of any use.

United will always have to overpay because we're wealthy. Also the pressure on being a United player means many young players fall away look at Zaha.

Originally Posted by utd99

We can only do what we can do to improve incrementally. Like any transfer it might not work out, but is that really a reason not to act? We know Maguire has some good attributes, and we know the players we have are not good enough. Theoretically, we should be able to offset this purchase with the sale of Rojo, Bailly and Jones and make most of it back. The addition of Tuanzebe into the group should make up the rest seeing as he cost £#%&! all.

People talk about van Dijk as though it was a nailed on success, but it’s total hindsight. He was sound for Celtic and Southampton, but he wasn’t pulling up any trees, and a year earlier Liverpool were playing games, unsettling the player and baulking at shelling out 40m; and I don’t recall anyone not laughing at the 75m they eventually paid. Similarly, you hear the name Koulibaly bandied around a lot, but how many times do you think people have seen him actually play, and how would he fare in a completely different league? I saw him play in England twice last year -I think against Liverpool and Arsenal in Europe, but I may be wrong- and both times he was mostly shite.

We need to decide and we need to act. If we get analysis paralysis, we’ll end up with another year of Smalling and Jones stinking out the gaff.

I don't think paralysis analysis is the issue here. The move seems to be progressing at a rate you'd expect for such a big transfer.

The main part of the debate is that many people just don't think he's very good.

I think he looks a bit better than Smalling. But that's while playing for Leicester. Evans looks good for Leicester too and he was deemed not good enough.

For what he would cost, I would honestly rather leave it and wait.

I get the point that we need to improve, but there has to be a ceiling. We don't just buy any old player who is an upgrade on what we have for any fee out there. We have a budget and we have many areas of the squad to address. I don't believe CB to be as pressing as a replacement for Matic, for example, or as right back was before AWB

Right back was a glaring issue. AWB one of the best young defenders out there last season.

I don't think it's the same for CB.

As for VVD, I don't think anyone thought he was anything other than overpriced, but I can hand on heart say that he looked better at Southampton than Maguire has for Leicester. He always looked classy. Maguire doesn't. He was also a clear, significant upgrade on their defenders too. They basically needed him and a keeper and that was it. And that's what they got.

We need more than that.

I cant help but feel we could be getting a much better player for a much cheaper fee, allowing money to be spent on other areas of the squad.

Originally Posted by Clownbones

I cant help but feel we could be getting a much better player for a much cheaper fee, allowing money to be spent on other areas of the squad.

Who? There aren't many world class defenders out there and there are pretty much none that aren't already at a more attractive club.

Originally Posted by Lok

Who? There aren't many world class defenders out there and there are pretty much none that aren't already at a more attractive club.

I don't know mate. I don't watch enough of a range of football these days to know.

But its the club's job to know.

I do know that De Ligt is better and younger than Maguire and he's going to go for about 20 million less.

There probably isn't many world class defenders around outside of top clubs. And Maguire isn't one of them.

Originally Posted by Clownbones

I don't know mate. I don't watch enough of a range of football these days to know.

But its the club's job to know.

I do know that De Ligt is better and younger than Maguire and he's going to go for about 20 million less.

De Ligt was not going to join though. And he was being sold by a club that needs money, not a club that has no desire to sell.

There are few options and Leicester know that.

The club aren't really in a position to find some unknown talent to fill such an important role. They need someone with experience who can lead the defense. Maguire seems to fit that brief. £#%&! the price.

Originally Posted by Lok

De Ligt was not going to join though. And he was being sold by a club that needs money, not a club that has no desire to sell.

There are few options and Leicester know that.

The club aren't really in a position to find some unknown talent to fill such an important role. They need someone with experience who can lead the defense. Maguire seems to fit that brief. £#%&! the price.

We had no chance of getting De Ligt, but his transfer should give us an idea of the market. We shouldn't be paying more for Maguire.

The price does matter because we have other parts of the squad that need addressing.

I'm not talking about an unknown talent, but surely there is a happy medium? There is nothing in between unknown talent and a Leicester city defender?

We disagree on what we think Maguire will bring to the side. He will solve none of our problems imo.

He's overpriced AND I don't want him.

Home grown players have always cost more. It won't be as much as the figure quoted.

You hope the club have seen something they want and tbh I'd trust their professional judgement more that the Twitter Brigade