MANCHESTER UNITED are edging ever closer to signing Harry Maguire from Leicester City in what is likely to be a world-record deal for a centre-back and I can’t wait to see it happen.
I think Maguire is perfect for Man United. A dominant, Premier League proven centre-back who has bags of experience and can become the defensive leader Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team desperately needs. He’s the missing piece in a back five which would now consist of David de Gea, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw – that’s a major upgrade on what United had last season.
The comments around Maguire I find a bit odd. If his name was Enrique Maguirez then he’d be considered one of the top 10 centre-backs in the world already, but because he’s Sheffield-born, Harry Maguire, who worked with his way up from Hull City to play for Leicester, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves. It’s an elitist mentality but for United it works out well. Personally, I think he’s not far off the top 10 centre-backs already and he’ll fit United like a glove.
However, it’s worth asking a question – what would United do at this stage if a deal for Maguire fell through with so little time left in the transfer window? On paper, it seems obvious where fans would want the club to go, but we’ve given ourselves so little time for alternatives.
In a dream world, we’d go after the man I wanted all along – Napoli’s powerhouse Kalidou Koulibaly. If Maguire is close to that top ten, Koulibaly is well inside it and in the top five in the world – he’s that good. Dominant doesn’t quite sum up how much of a defensive boss Koulibaly is and he’d improve any team in the world.
Koulibaly was my number one choice, but costing more than £100m and with Napoli not needing to sell, it would need a minor miracle for United to get him at this late stage when Napoli wouldn’t have much time to sign a replacement.
The same goes for Ruben Dias from Benfica. He’s a younger player whose potential is as high as Koulibaly but as we’ve seen with Bruno Fernandes, dealing with Portuguese clubs can be a slow and tedious process, so the chances of United getting any deal for Dias done are highly unlikely at this stage.
If United do fail in their pursuit of Maguire, then there is only one logical choice – Axel Tuanzebe.
He’s a class act and one of the best defenders to have come through United’s academy. Ever since he was captain of the U18s, you could see he was a cut above and his season at Aston Villa showed he was ready to compete at the top level. During pre-season, he’s done nothing but impress, and United fans would love to see him given the nod ahead of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo if Maguire doesn’t end up joining.
United have forced themselves into a position where signing any other centre-back than Maguire at this stage is a massive risk. Napoli would want too much for Koulibaly and somebody like Ruben Dias would likely need a season to settle. much like Victor Lindelof, so the only logical step is to put faith in Tuanzebe.
It’s in the history of our club to promote the youth and regardless of whether Maguire arrives, I expect this to be a breakthrough season for Tuanzebe and who knows, maybe we’ll all be talking about how great Tuanzebe is at the end of this season, rather than singing the praises of Maguire in a United shirt.
