Harry Maguire | Signed

[Noc-Z]

The money in football now is unreal. A decent Premier League CB and it looks like £70M won't be enough to get him. We have:

Lindelof
Bailly
Jones
Smalling
Rojo
Tuanzebe

And not one of them good or reliable enough? Yes Lindelof looked decent last year but what's our benchmark here?

If we buy a CB, we absolutely need to sell. The squad we have is ridiculous.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

This whole ‘add extra 20million and get player X’ needs to stop. Pronto. It doesn’t work like that. There are so many variables in a transfer.

You think we haven’t made contact with De Ligt etc. It’s clear they don’t want to come here.

De Ligt and Maguire are not the only available defenders in the world. The whole, let's overlook the flaws of this player because he's an international; just "buy him at any price" needs to stop

 

[IAN HEALY]

Maguire isn’t a world class defender that’s the point, there are other good players out there. They might not be the finished article but neither is Maguire, a lot of Leicester fans will tell you Evans is a better defender.

Also don’t buy this idea that Maguire is somehow a low risk, if he costs 70-90m he’s a huge risk. If he isn’t a success there isn’t another 70-90m to go and buy another CB. A lot of the alternatives Utd fans turn their noses up are similar level as Diop was before West Ham and Maguire was two years ago.

To compound matters if we spend that large an outlay on a player we are going to be obliged to play him every match, and he will be nailed on as the starter. Am not sure Maguire is the standard we should be looking at to be the no 1 CB at the club. Great as a third choice but not as your number 1.

 

[Pierluigi Casiraghi]

De Ligt and Maguire are not the only available defenders in the world. The whole, let's overlook the flaws of this player because he's an international; just "buy him at any price" needs to stop

Yup, as does the "he will improve us, that's all that matters" attitude. We basically don't have a RW at the moment. Andros Townshend would improve us in that regard. Doesn't mean we should buy him.

And I actually like the idea of having a strong British core. I find the "Brexshit passhun English lads lol" posts really weird and salty... but I just don't rate Maguire.

 

[El-Manos]

This will be a very big mistake. Place faith on Bailey and Axel instead.

Plays for a different club

 

[Brophs]

I genuinely think people underestimate how worried clubs are about Brexit and the possible rules it will introduce in terms of foreign players. The values of players like Maguire are going to continue to rise.

 

[devilish]

I genuinely think people underestimate how worried clubs are about Brexit and the possible rules it will introduce in terms of foreign players. The values of players like Maguire are going to continue to rise.

Are they? We seem to be the only ones obsessed with this British core thing

 

[DRM]

De Ligt and Maguire are not the only available defenders in the world. The whole, let's overlook the flaws of this player because he's an international; just "buy him at any price" needs to stop

Care to name some alternatives who are then? And no, Koulibaly doesnt count because Napoli as asking double of what we bid for maguire and he just signed a new contract

 

[Sky1981]

Yup, as does the "he will improve us, that's all that matters" attitude. We basically don't have a RW at the moment. Andros Townshend would improve us in that regard. Doesn't mean we should buy him.

And I actually like the idea of having a strong British core. I find the "Brexshit passhun English lads lol" posts really weird and salty... but I just don't rate Maguire.

Does british lads of todays signifies pashun? Not if i take a look and lingard and co.

 

[DRM]

This will be a very big mistake. Place faith on Bailey and Axel instead.

So an average, injury prone defender who always seems to make a mistake in games and a young player who has never played in the premier league. Yea, OK.

 

[Ooge_]

Tah (23, Leverkusen) and Konaté (20, Leipzig) are rated by "kicker" [1] as one of the Top-6 Defenders in the Bundesliga 18/19.

[1] https://derivates.kicker.de/image/u.../w_1000,h_562,q_auto/e5b7fvyl0qqkqrklrygf.jpg

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Care to name some alternatives who are then? And no, Koulibaly doesnt count because Napoli as asking double of what we bid for maguire and he just signed a new contract

There's an entire thread here on CBs. Read it.

I don't believe our scouts decided Harry Maguire was the only CB in the world worth considering. I, personally, already looked so I know there are alternatives available a half his price. Alternatives who are faster, and make less mistakes.

 

[hubbuh]

Is that the best you could do.. No one available? Everyone is available for a price.

Maguire for £90m is a joke whereas there are CB's in Europe who will be available for much less than that. Tah, Dias, to name a few.

Are you from the UK? I ask because people on this forum keep name dropping players from the Portuguese leagues, German leagues etc. and I find it hard to believe they’ve seen them enough to know whether or not they represent better options than someone like Maguire.

 

[Bestietom]

Care to name some alternatives who are then? And no, Koulibaly doesnt count because Napoli as asking double of what we bid for maguire and he just signed a new contract

We are willing to try Young players all over the pitch besides CB. Milenkovic will turn out to be a top CB and we should take a chance on him.
Good tackler, good in the air, good passer and comes out with the ball. He is 6' 4" and only 21 years old. For 45 million buy out clause we should try.

 

[DRM]

There's an entire thread here on CBs. Read it.

I don't believe our scouts decided Harry Maguire was the only CB in the world worth considering. I, personally, already looked so I know there are alternatives available a half his price. Alternatives who are faster, and make less mistakes.

Nah, Maguire is better than all those listed, except maybe de Ligt but he's clearly out of our reach.

 

[StrettyEnder07]

I'm not sure who advised you on that cause it's simply not true

On what Smalling? Ha I had about 7 people going mental at me saying he never gets beat in the air and by all accounts smokes Maguire and VVD in that area, baffling but it is what it is.

 

[romufc]

Are you from the UK? I ask because people on this forum keep name dropping players from the Portuguese leagues, German leagues etc. and I find it hard to believe they’ve seen them enough to know whether or not they represent better options than someone like Maguire.

Oh sorry we should not sign anyone outside the UK and pay whatever fees that have been asked.
There are CB's across Europe who play for teams which are in Europe and National team.

I guess you will also say someone like De Ligt is not better than Maguire? Just because you have seen him play in the Champions League only. That's what Stats and highlights are for mate.

 

[Dahnsouff]

My 2 cents, and I am not having a dig.
Just seems to me that this window, you are not in the business of taking chances, and Harry has proven he is a good-to-great CB in THIS league.
(And before anyone starts with the errors, you can find pretty much YouTube vids for every defender making a dogs dinner of things on occasion)

Sure you could take a chance on Dias, Milenkovic, Tah, etc, but it is a risk, look at Bailly.
Or you could go for Toby, but thats just kicking the can down the road.
There are then big reputational options, De Ligt, Koulibaly, who seem better bets, but they don`t want to come.

Lets me be clear though - we don`t need to sell (His sale is not required to fund anything), so to get him you have to pay the exhorbitant price that Top has set.

This seems to me (looking in) like the position you are in. I think he would be absolutely great for you by the way.
Cheers

 

[Adamsk7]

Hoping we can settle at £75m -78m. If he pushes for a move (which he probably won’t) then that should be enough.

Even if we go waaaay over the odds, what do you reckon we could recoup on Bailly and Rojo? Because if we got £30m for the pair and Maguire for £80m, £50m overall outlay isn’t that bad.

(I’d rather sell Jones but I think there’s no way that is happening - I’m sure the club would rather keep as many British players as possible, rightly or wrongly).

 

[Skills]

The money in football now is unreal. A decent Premier League CB and it looks like £70M won't be enough to get him. We have:

Lindelof
Bailly
Jones
Smalling
Rojo
Tuanzebe

And not one of them good or reliable enough? Yes Lindelof looked decent last year but what's our benchmark here?

If we buy a CB, we absolutely need to sell. The squad we have is ridiculous.

Rojo & and one of Jones/Bailly should be off this summer.

Then whoevers left and falls fourth in the pecking order next season, should be off next summer.

 

[Adam-Utd]

So an average, injury prone defender who always seems to make a mistake in games and a young player who has never played in the premier league. Yea, OK.

He has played.

 

[Tel074]

On what Smalling? Ha I had about 7 people going mental at me saying he never gets beat in the air and by all accounts smokes Maguire and VVD in that area, baffling but it is what it is.

I just researched this stat. Smalling is 17th on the list of defenders Ariel duels won in the prem league last year and not surprisingly behind both Maguire and VVD .

 

[Skills]

If England win by 230 runs today, and if Pakistan then bowl first bundle out Bangladesh for 120 runs & chase it down in 12 overs they will overtake NZ by 0.013 on NRR

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Nah, Maguire is better than all those listed, except maybe de Ligt but he's clearly out of our reach.

I don't think you read the thread, because almost every CB in Europe (available or not) is listed in it. I think you looked at the first post, and number of pages, and decided you were too busy to read it so it's a better idea to spend £90m of the first available player.

 

[Bestietom]

If England win by 230 runs today, and if Pakistan then bowl first bundle out Bangladesh for 120 runs & chase it down in 12 overs they will overtake NZ by 0.013 on NRR

This is a football forum. I was warned for writing in wrong post.

 

[Old Ma Crow]

so we shouldn't sign a central defender until we think they're the best in the world? Or we should sign more players about as good as the 6 CBs that we have already? or make do with what we have?

Was VVD "the best in the world' when Liverpool signed him? The point is we should be signing a player to improve our defence significantly and for that IMO he needs to be a very good central defender and effective leader. If the club spend £70m+ I'd be very disappointed if our defence didn't improve significantly.

 

[redIndianDevil]

But everyone saying ‘get someone else’ needs to come with these alternative world class defender they’re talking about and think we can get. Maguire ticks a lot of boxes including the fact we know for certain he can handle the demands of the PL. Only other two possibilities we’ve been linked with who can do the same are Diop and Alderweireld all have their own drawbacks and possibly more than Maguire. His is obviously his shortage of pace. Once you start looking outside all these other defenders have more cons than pros than Maguire including, like Maguire, their valuations. We’re not in a position where we can take risks anymore and buy players for the future. We need someone who can come in and take control of our defence from day one.

This sort of short term thinking is what is getting us in stupid positions of over paying for average players.

Are we going to compete for the title next season? No.

The best thing we could do is build for the next two-three years, why don't we buy a highly rated young centre back and give him two years of time with Lindelof to form a steady partnership? This has been our biggest problem with our defence, while individually our defenders are not that good, they haven't been allowed to form a steady partnership(injuries also caused this) either, one thing LvG got correct was the CB pairing - Smalling and Blind.

The only reason VVD perfected Liverpool defence was because the other framework was already there, their midfield was good, fullbacks were good, they played as a team but were getting exposed due to poor CBs and VVD fixed this immediately. But we have a lot of other holes already, even buying Koulibaly and Maguire is not going to magically make us a better unit.

We really should start looking at the best talent available and get him for the money and build for the future.

 

[lon ball2]

I’m curious as to why we aren’t offering lukaku plus cash to inter for skriniar, then spending the 70m on a striker or number 10/winger

 

[groovyalbert]

I’m curious as to why we aren’t offering lukaku plus cash to inter for skriniar, then spending the 70m on a striker or number 10/winger

Think there were reports that he's not interested in leaving.

 

[Noc-Z]

Rojo & and one of Jones/Bailly should be off this summer.

Then whoevers left and falls fourth in the pecking order next season, should be off next summer.

Absolutely but it's concerning that they're not being linked with anyone. Really, who will want to buy Jones or Rojo?

 

[Lynty]

Is that the best you could do.. No one available? Everyone is available for a price.

Maguire for £90m is a joke whereas there are CB's in Europe who will be available for much less than that. Tah, Dias, to name a few.

I was replying to someone who said we could get a world class centre back for the same price as maguire.

There is non available.

 

[arthurka]

Tah (23, Leverkusen) and Konaté (20, Leipzig) are rated by "kicker" [1] as one of the Top-6 Defenders in the Bundesliga 18/19.

[1] https://derivates.kicker.de/image/u.../w_1000,h_562,q_auto/e5b7fvyl0qqkqrklrygf.jpg

Yes and both should be available for less. Also Diop who I have watched more than I would like to admit. He will become a massive player in a couple of years time if nothing unexpected is to happen.

But I get this english player thing, he isnt going anywhere else and could form a strong spine for this team.

 

[Enigma_87]

The money in football now is unreal. A decent Premier League CB and it looks like £70M won't be enough to get him. We have:

Lindelof
Bailly
Jones
Smalling
Rojo
Tuanzebe

And not one of them good or reliable enough? Yes Lindelof looked decent last year but what's our benchmark here?

If we buy a CB, we absolutely need to sell. The squad we have is ridiculous.

Would sell them all bar Tuanzebe and Lindelof.

 

[romufc]

I was replying to someone who said we could get a world class centre back for the same price as maguire.

There is non available.

Isn't it the scouts responsibility to find CB's?

How often does a club sign a world class CB? Even VVD was a great CB but became world class at Liverpool.

If you look at CB's who have gone and become world class have all been talents/ Pique, Ramos, Kompany, VVD, Ferdinand.

We need to find a CB at the right age, with great potential. De Ligt is one but we will never sign him.

 

[Fer]

Besides Koulibaly and De Ligt. Is there a CB that you prefer over Maguire to pay 70m?

 

[Bestietom]

This sort of short term thinking is what is getting us in stupid positions of over paying for average players.

Are we going to compete for the title next season? No.

The best thing we could do is build for the next two-three years, why don't we buy a highly rated young centre back and give him two years of time with Lindelof to form a steady partnership? This has been our biggest problem with our defence, while individually our defenders are not that good, they haven't been allowed to form a steady partnership(injuries also caused this) either, one thing LvG got correct was the CB pairing - Smalling and Blind.

The only reason VVD perfected Liverpool defence was because the other framework was already there, their midfield was good, fullbacks were good, they played as a team but were getting exposed due to poor CBs and VVD fixed this immediately. But we have a lot of other holes already, even buying Koulibaly and Maguire is not going to magically make us a better unit.

We really should start looking at the best talent available and get him for the money and build for the future.

Bringing in the right players is the most important thing this season. Liverpool added 3 good players
( goalkeeper, CB and DM) to the spine of their team last season, and look where it got them. If we are willing to bring in young players they should be top players and there are some good young CB's out there also.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Besides Koulibaly and De Ligt. Is there a CB that you prefer over Maguire to pay 70m?

Probably not but is that relevant? You're talking a world record fee for a player nowhere near VVD's level. I think the issue most people have is with the bonkers fee, not the fact that it's Maguire.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Probably not but is that relevant? You're talking a world record fee for a player nowhere near VVD's level. I think the issue most people have is with the bonkers fee, not the fact that it's Maguire.

It is going round in circles a bit. But if VVD was sold tomorrow, he wouldn’t go for £75m would he! He would go for a hell of a lot more.

He’s now a world class CB, CL winner who captains his country. He was NONE of those things at Southampton. If he was sold now, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was upwards of £130m. So it’s futile to compare the two transfers.

 

[romufc]

It is going round in circles a bit. But if VVD was sold tomorrow, he wouldn’t go for £75m would he! He would go for a hell of a lot more.

He’s now a world class CB, CL winner who captains his country. He was NONE of those things at Southampton. If he was sold now, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was upwards of £130m. So it’s futile to compare the two transfers.

Are you trying to justify a £75 plus fee for Maguire? Surely not. He is no where near VVD level. We have seen it for Leicester and England he has a mistake in him.. VVD looks composed and sure.

 

[Christy Browne]

Centre-back depth of:

Maguire
Lindelof
Tuanzebe
Smalling/Bailly

Would be nice. Sell Rojo and Jones plus one of Smalling/Bailly unless Tuanzebe goes out on loan for another year.
Should be able to get at least £25 million pounds for Rojo and Jones in this market surely?