Manchester United are making plans to strengthen their defence next summer but that also means they will consider offers for club captain Harry Maguire.
According to The Guardian, Erik ten Hag is intent on selling Maguire to help fund a overhaul of the squad and the club accepts they may have to accept a considerable loss on a player who cost them £80 million in the summer of 2019.
The news comes 24 hours after Maguire was selected for the England squad for the forthcoming World Cup in Qatar. It is seen as a controversial decision to some because Maguire is now in effect fourth-choice centre-back at Old Trafford, but that doesn’t change the fact he is one Gareth Southgate’s most trusted lieutenants.
Jamie Jackson reports: “Maguire signed a six-year contract that has an option to extend to 2026. The length of his deal, his salary of about £190,000 a week and his dramatic loss of form mean he may be hard to move on for a price anywhere near £80m.”
The journalist also claims that Ten Hag admires Maguire’s professionalism but sees his pace as a problem. For that reason he wants to sell the England international to add true competition for Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez.
I can see why Ten Hag would want to do that because United fans have often spoken about what if Martinez or Varane were to get injured this season… well, we’ve seen what happens to the team without the Frenchman and it’s not pretty.
This doesn’t read well well for Victor Lindelof either but it sounds like Maguire will be the one to get the chop at United.
