Despite being the Premier League’s most expensive defender, Harry Maguire’s time at Manchester United has gone from bad to worse.
The England international, who was also named the Red Devils’ captain by former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has struggled to win fans over.
A series of poor performances have led to the former Leicester City defender becoming an easy target for criticism and while pundit and former Liverpool player Stan Collymore does not agree with all of the fire the 29-year-old is coming in for, he does think one of his former club’s most significant signings didn’t help.
Speaking in an exclusive interview about why it has gone so wrong for Maguire, who has recently lost his place in Erik ten Hag’s squad to new signing Lisandro Martinez, Collymore said: “Liverpool’s signing of Virgil Van Dijk for around £75m did not help Maguire either. Especially considering how much of a successful transfer he has been, but at the time, Liverpool set the bar very high and it allowed Leicester City to dig their heels in and ask for the same kind of eye-watering fee for Harry Maguire.
“Had Van Dijk not moved to Anfield, Maguire would probably have left Leicester City for closer to £40m and the pressure on him would be far less and his price tag, which he had no control over, became the stick in which the media and some fans have used to beat him with.”
Since joining the 20-time league winners from the Foxes back in 2019 for an eye-watering £78.3m, Maguire, who has just over two years left on his deal at Old Trafford, has gone on to feature in 149 matches, in all competitions, directly contributing to 12 goals along the way.
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