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Harry Maguire
Harry Maguire

Harry Maguire transfer: Former Leicester great Steve Walsh says Foxes will not be forced to sell Maguire to Manchester United

By Sporting Life
Football
Fri August 02, 2019 · 5y ago

Leicester legend Steve Walsh thinks Harry Maguire would be a "massive" signing for Manchester United.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is reported to be interested in the 26-year-old centre-back, who has also played 20 times for the national team, and reports suggest he won't play in Friday's latest pre-season game.

Maguire joined Leicester in 2017 from Hull for £12 million and has been linked with Manchester United since the 2018 summer transfer window, most recently for a fee of around £90 million.

When asked whether Maguire would be worth the record-breaking amount, Walsh, who played 369 times for Leicester, said: "I think when you look at the centre-backs of his calibre, there's not many of them around.

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In the 2018/19 season, United conceded more goals than the rest of the top six in the Premier League with 54 and six more than Leicester.

Walsh thinks Maguire could be an important signing for United and be a key figure in their defence.

Leicester defender Harry Maguire is being chased by Manchester United

"I would say that he's England's number one choice centre-back at the moment," said Walsh.

"For Man United obviously he'd not be the final piece in the jigsaw but he'd be a massive acquisition for them.

"Man United have always had a dominant big centre-back and a captain really and I guess you could see him fitting in well.

"When everyone says £80 million is a lot of money it's not really in a market when you've got a player of his calibre, because he's a sought-after player and it's his style of play and you don't get many big lads like him in the modern game."

Can Leicester upset the Premier League top six stranglehold this season?

Maguire has been central to the Leicester team and has only missed seven Premier League matches since his move from Hull, and for Walsh, finding a replacement would be difficult.

"We have four or five centre-backs, so we're pretty covered, but obviously losing Maguire it's hard to replace.

"You're not going to get a player as good as him so it's going to be a bit of a test for Brendan (Rodgers) in what he does, whether he enters the market and there is a lot of talk about (Lewis) Dunk but it's hearsay at this moment and we will see."

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