That said, Maguire does not suit the system Ralf wants us to play. Maguire is a decent player. I don't think he's an elite level player, and I don't think he gets anywhere near the top 6 sides' starting lineups. When Ole had us sit and play on the counter, it suited Maguire because everyone sat around him and he was only asked to accelerate in attack. Now that Ralf wants everyone to play a more complete style of football, Maguire is exposed because it is not his natural game. He is not a nimble and agile player. He is the kind who will put his head through a wall, but he's neither fleet of foot nor mind.
So it's not that Maguire is suddenly shit, it's that the system is changing out from under him and he's not the right player for where we are going. He's had his ups, his downs, some good games for us, and some calamities. He's not the worst player to have signed for United, he's not some stain on the badge, he's just an average player who rarely gets injured but doesn't fit into our new system.
This is one of my biggest issues with the Maguire narrative, each time he plays poorly certain posters act as if it’s a new phenomena. He didn’t really suit OgSs system either, this isn’t because Ralf is trying to reinvent the wheel here. He’s never reproduced his Leicester form for United in any sustained fashion. His poor performances also came in some of the previous regime’s worst games.
He was off his head in Greece asking police, ‘Do you know who i am?’ whilst United captain. If that’s not a stain on the badge/club then I don’t know what is for a man whose career highlight is PotS for Hull City. Whilst players don’t choose their fees & some people saw his limitations a mile off this isn’t some academy graduate, all in it’s difficult to see another player who gave less for the respective outlay.
I agree with most of your post in fairness, I just don’t think this is Ralfs doing. He’s been poor for some time.
Transfer fees are amortised over the length of a player’s contract. As such his value on the balance sheet at the end of this season will be £32 million. We should be able to recover that at least and still be able to buy a good, talented centre-back. Akanji would be an excellent partner for Varane and would be available for less than that as he only has a year left on his contract in the summer.
But as we still owe Leicester the remaining £48mil, selling him doesn’t void the balance owed to his previous club. Whilst we may cover the current outlay there’s no chance we cover the remaining balance. His transfer fee would continue to show on balance sheets each season until it’s fully paid. The only potential saving is future wages.
We have to be careful what we wish for. I think Maguire's confidence took a battering after our shambolic tactical approach at the start of the season, and I don't think it helps that his price tag and his prominence for United and England means he is scrutinised far more than other CBs.
I am not here for a back-and-forth argument, so please don't come back at this if it's just going to be all-out negativity.
I’d refer you to his poor form at points last season & his shocking form during
Project Restart but you’d likely consider that ‘all-out negativity’. Pretending Maguire has only been bad this season isn’t entering the discussion with good faith. He’s shown us who he is for some time now.
I’d generally agree be careful what you wish for but Maguire has never kicked on from his Leicester form to show he’ll be the CB many hope for.
We’ve been having calls to ‘get behind Maguire’ for years, at what point does our £80mil captain start performing consistently enough to stop this discussion altogether.
We're not going to sell Harry Maguire. And a lot of people seem to have forgotten how good he was most of last season, and during the Euros.
What about the rest of last season? That paragraph is a damning defence in itself.
‘Ah well he’s good most of the time, not outstanding but good. Let’s forget the appalling performances around those short periods.’
Also, since when did him playing well in a defensive set up, in a back 3 for England matter a jot.
This thread is nothing like the Caf normally.
Massive over-reaction to a player massively out of form who may or may not be good enough to represent the club in the long term.
We don’t NEED to sell him. We need to ensure we have suitable cover/competition for him and ensure that he knows he needs to up his game.
This isn’t Lingard who was nowhere near the international set-up in the main. He’s the starting CB for England.
If he’s not playing for United, he isn’t playing for England and I’ll bet he’ll make a sensible decision to get a move elsewhere to protect his international career
Other people have retorted at most of the poor posts made here but 2 things.
Again, what playing well in a back 3 for England tells us about his United career in a 2 I’ll never know.
Secondly, onto Lingard. You do understand that no matter how this season ends for Lingard at United he has done more than Maguire in a United shirt. I mean that literally in terms of actually winning something.
The Maguire apologists are a weird species.