I mean, you saw more of Rüdiger than me but I think if he produced stuff like Maguire, I would've seen it on social media because some of the things he pulled off are among the most ridiculous I've seen in professional football. Like the scene in which he pulls Shaw and prevents him from blocking a shot. And as if that wasn't strange enough, he gifted that shot to the opponent himself in ridiculous fashion to begin with. I genuinely never saw anything similar from any professional player ever. And Maguire has multiple scenes like that.
Of course that's most likely not the actual Harry Maguire but a Harry Maguire in complete lack of any self esteem. But players who can be thrown off the tracks that much by public pressure typically don't have the nerves to play at the very top. The pressure seems to really go to his head. It's a bit like Werner's finishing which puts question marks behind whether he lacks the mental toughness to become a true elite striker, only waaayyy more extreme.
That whole thing aside, I still haven't seen what his special talents are, especially when you consider how many classy CBs are currently emerging. France alone has probably 15+ CBs more talented than Maguire, both on the ball as well as against it.
Rudiger never sunk as low as Maguire has. Maguire's season has descended into a horror show but I think the perception of him created by these internet trolls and meme accounts is one that makes it seem like his entire United career has been an utter farce. Those moments you speak are part of his history now, so they have to be acknowledged alongside his good moments but they've generally come during periods where United as a team are in utter disarray, where the coach looked like he had lost the team. There's a reason quite a few United fans had him in their top 5 when this thread was created. I didn't personally agree with them even back then, but it wasn't coming from a place of pure blind support for Maguire. He had a really good season last season and he looked really good during the euros for England.
A player whose bottom level is really bad can still have an pretty elite top level. It just has be cultivated in the right conditions. I'm not advocating for Maguire to be considered a top 5 CB, and maybe that ship has sailed for good, it seems like a ridiculous suggestion now but at the time when the thread was created, I didn't think it was a totally outrageous take to have him in the top 5.
Despite what it might seem like right now, he's actually a really good at progressing the ball forward, similar to how Rudiger does it for Chelsea and it seems laughable to praise his defensive instincts now, being at the right place at the right time, positioning, intercepting, that kind of thing but last season that was one of the things that impressed me about him.