Should we consider selling Harry Maguire?

KW2006

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First strip the armband off him. If he is still crap for a few more matches, bench him. Then sell.
 

RC89

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Predicted United and Chelsea going 5th and 6th.
Came 3rd and 4th.
He can only go off the team at the time of speaking. At the time of making those comments we hadn't signed Bruno. Prior to the Bruno signing we were very much looking to finishing fifth or six. If two weeks ago I said we'd finish sixth based on our business and then we go and sign Koulibally, Sancho, Telles, Cavani and Partey on deadline day, the situation changes entirely. He was bang on the money with us. Was obviously wrong with Chelsea.

Context.
 

cyril C

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AND, partner Rojo - Jones as our CB? Find a decent & affordable CB first then we can trade in for Jones/Rojo, find another one then we can consider selling Maguire, that is before we sell Bailey, Lindelof.
 

Toad

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I'm pretty worried for our season that we have stuck with the same centre-backs, as is everyone to be fair. We tried so hard to go for Sancho and spent the majority of our time wasting away on this deal. I would take the Villa partnership over ours any day of the week and probably the majority of the Premier League partnerships barring a couple, it's that bad for me.
 

Cassidy

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Merson is full of bollocks. I remember when he did this, it was when we signed Maguire. He absolutely pasted Maguire and then that weekend we beat Chelsea 4-0 at home (albeit a bit lucky) and Maguire got Man of the Match. Then a few days later Merson came out and apologised and said he was wrong about Maguire! :lol: :lol:

The truth is, I don’t believe Maguire is good enough for us. But Merson went back and forth on his views.

I have to disagree with his biggest bollocks though that you only play 3 at the back when your defenders aren’t good enough? :lol:

Did he never watch Maldini, Costacurta, Baresi, Nesta play football? And more recently the likes of Barzagli, Bonucci and Chiellini forming a formidable defence for many years at Juve.

With regards to Maguire, I don’t believe he’s good enough. Yes he had a “decent” season last season, but even a decent season never made us look solid and reliable defensively. There was never a run of games where I felt confidence about our defence. It was more a case of being confident that we would out score the opponent or we would sit deep and counter teams.
England definitely did this, they didn't even play a 3 in the run up to the world cup, but you are right its not a general thing like he made out
 

Robbie Boy

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I wouldn't bother selling him as we would be lucky to recoup half of what we paid for him. He's also probably our best CB which is a damning indictment indeed. I have zero idea why we thought it was a good idea to spend so much on such an average CB.
 

Sandikan

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Looked ok to me, but the match day thread people were moaning beyond belief.

Could have sworn i was Dier who was shocking for both the offside goal, and the pen.
 

dev1l

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Was fine. Much better in a back three.

Going forward, it's something Ole should look at.
If he does it with us he ll be accused of leaving a hole behind him. You cannot win with certain people.
Tbf with 3cbs , the "hole" can easily be covered by one of the other two.
 

Foxbatt

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This is the point I make. How can they be so poor for us but when they go and play for their countries they are much better?
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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This is the point I make. How can they be so poor for us but when they go and play for their countries they are much better?
Different systems, different tactics, different players, etc.

I do think Maguire is much more comfortable in a back three, though. Whilst he was good for Leicester, I felt he really started to get rave reviews when following his performances for England in the world cup.
 

Untd55

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Is it that surprising that defenders are better in a back three? Of course, they are; there are more of them.

He was also shielded by two defensive midfielders and had two wing-backs. In essence, England played seven defensive players, so it isn't surprising that his weaknesses weren't exploited so much. Albeit, Lukaku caused him quite a few issues.

England has no choice but to play with inadequate centre-backs, but Manutd has a choice I don't think Manutd should settle for a centre-back that needs to be coddled and protected so much; he obviously isn't very good if he needs so much protection.
 

Crashoutcassius

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Whoever thought an incredibly slow defender is what we needed clearly hasn't got a clue. Don't know if it's Ole, or Woodward or whoever.

One of the biggest reasons we can't press high is because of him! One long ball and he's on his arse!

Ok, we needed a ball playing defender, but why get the slowest one available? What's the point? You solve one thing and ruin another.
Ole , ed, mourinho, guardiola all wanted him within a year
 

AFC NimbleThumb

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So people want us to remove an attacker from the line-up going forward to cover the deficiencies of our Captain and Leader :lol:

The guy simply isn’t of the required standard to build off of going forward; was making Batshuayi look like prime R9 from early on last season - terrible use of funds.

Needs to be challenged to improve his game, time for excuses is surely over.

In regards to the OP question, we would t get £40mil for him now & he’s here to stay.
 

jeepers

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Does City still want him? They pay £50m minimum for their defenders.

Following the discussion about why players (Maguire, Pogba, etc) seem better during international games, it is the system.

We can’t play a back two of Maguire and Lindelof, and play a high press because our defensive line will also move higher up. If we had Smalling, or if Bailly wasn’t always farting mentally/injured, with one of them we could possibly play a back two.

Reckon we should employ a back three - Lindelof, Maguire and Shaw/Matic. Play AWB and Telles as wingbacks. 5-3-2. DvB, Pogba and Fernandes in midfield, Rashford/Greenwood/Martial upfront.
 

lex talionis

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The post above.

We should on most occasions play a back three — yes, with Maguire on the pitch, and rely heavily on Telles and Wan-Bissaka for width and pace. There’s no perfect solution to our problems but we know our CBs are slow and can’t play a high line. Marcus and Anthony (not sure about Edinson and Mason) do have pace, as does the woeful Daniel, so it seems to me that playing some route one rather than painfully always trying to play it out of the back gives us a new option opposing defenses will struggle with.
 

Brwned

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If you believe what's said.
Berrara, City's "chief football operations officer", pretty much confirmed they wanted Maguire but not at that price just a few days ago. It's entirely in line with their transfer strategy; another John Stones or Kyle Walker. Only the fact they got burned by Stones' price last time presumably made them more adamant that they're not going over the odds again this time. Presumably we'll do the same next time.

It's entirely reasonable that Maguire's still not 100% after being arrested and publicly shamed, while also playing in a team that offers him so little protection and support in this time of need. It's a bit odd that people want to kick him while he's down.
 

Hammondo

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Berrara, City's "chief football operations officer", pretty much confirmed they wanted Maguire but not at that price just a few days ago. It's entirely in line with their transfer strategy; another John Stones or Kyle Walker. Only the fact they got burned by Stones' price last time presumably made them more adamant that they're not going over the odds again this time. Presumably we'll do the same next time.

It's entirely reasonable that Maguire's still not 100% after being arrested and publicly shamed, while also playing in a team that offers him so little protection and support in this time of need. It's a bit odd that people want to kick him while he's down.
Paywalled
 

westmeath

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Again, it has to be said. Selling Maguire now would be stupid. Not only would we be selling him at a loss. Maguire is also our best centerback. We should be looking for another centerback to pair with him instead.
He may be our best centre half but that’s only because we don’t have any decent centre halves.

We should just write off the 80 million and look to replace him. Most of the 80m is already lost, I’d say he is now worth 15 to 20 at best. We just need to recognise this loss and move on.

We should also fire anyone who had anything to do with this transaction. That’s how it would work in any normal functioning business.
 

FrankDrebin

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Is it that surprising that defenders are better in a back three? Of course, they are; there are more of them.

He was also shielded by two defensive midfielders and had two wing-backs. In essence, England played seven defensive players, so it isn't surprising that his weaknesses weren't exploited so much.
Albeit, Lukaku caused him quite a few issues.

England has no choice but to play with inadequate centre-backs, but Manutd has a choice I don't think Manutd should settle for a centre-back that needs to be coddled and protected so much; he obviously isn't very good if he needs so much protection.
Exactly.
Also this is a major issue I have with Southgate's line-ups and why ,with the talent now available to us offensively, we still wont be going anywhere anytime soon.
 

BlackBen

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I know swap deals ain’t common in football but I’d swap him plus cash for Kounde. A CB pairing of Upamecano and Kounde is my dream.

It might not work but it’d be interesting to watch these two fast and mobile defenders than the snail race we currently have.
 

Fosu-Mens

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We should consider selling 75% of the players in the squad. And half of these we should actively attempt to sell.
Sadly, we will struggle to sell most of the players in the squad due to difference between their abilities and wages.
 

Giggsy13

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The Maguire hate here is a bit baffling. He’s a good defender who is stuck with an unreasonable price tag. Before the restart, he and AWB were by far our best defenders. He’s had a terrible summer and rival fans are pouring it on yet our own supports are pouring it on too. Toxic club and supporters.