It is possible that the Harry Maguire silly season coverage could easily run all the way until summer transfer window deadline day. Will Manchester United acquire the 26-year-old Englishman between now and August 8? Well, “agreement reached/deal being finalized” has already been declared not once, but twice.
Obviously, those stories have turned out to be severely jumping the gun at best, fake news at worst, but if/when Maguire does make the move, one United player who plays his position, Victor Lindelof, would welcome it. The idea is that Lindelof and Maguire would become United’s first choice pairing in central defense.
The 25-year-old Swede invites the idea of the position group strengthening (as would any United supporter who has referred to the sometimes starting central defense pairing, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, as “the chuckle brothers”)
“I like the competition. I love it, actually. I think it’s great for a club to have that competition,” Lindelof said in an interview with ESPN FC.
“If you have good players in your position you have to work hard every day, especially in training, and that helps a team to go to the next level as well.
“For me it’s perfect. I like it. I think everyone at this club wants to be at the highest level. I’m very good friends with them all.
“In training we compete and then off the pitch we are friends. That’s how it should be.”
Centre back has been United’s biggest weakness for several years now, and the last few transfer windows have seen United strongly linked with central defenders.
However, they have not actually secured anybody at the position, since Lindelof, who came over in early summer transfer window 2017.
It has been reported that Maguire would cost United £80 million, a new world record for a defender. Is he actually worth it though? A lot of United supporters don’t seem to think so, and it’s a widely held belief that Maguire could be overrated and overpriced.
Perhaps that is why this already long protracted transfer saga seems oh so tedious right now.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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