West Ham United are in "direct contact" with Manchester United regarding a deal to sign Harry Maguire this summer, according to reliable journalist Fabrizio Romano.
Is Harry Maguire leaving Man United?
The Red Devils centre-back has become a regular feature of the first team since joining from Leicester City back in 2019, but last season, he fell significantly out of favour under Erik ten Hag having been handed just eight starts in the Premier League.
The England international still has another two years remaining on his contract at Old Trafford, but his lack of game time alongside the fact that he’s been stripped of the club’s captaincy and replaced by Bruno Fernandes indicates that his future could lie elsewhere, potentially with David Moyes at the London Stadium.
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Sky Sports have reported that the Irons saw an opening £20m offer for the 30-year-old turned down by the M16 outfit last month but stated that whilst they aren’t pushing players out of the door, they will listen to bids that they deem to be at “fair market value”.
The Scottish boss has also had a separate proposal for his teammate Scott McTominay rejected, but he doesn't appear to be letting this put him off his pursuit of the 6 foot 3 England star, who could be the first of the pair to reach an agreement.
Are West Ham signing Harry Maguire?
Taking to Twitter X, Romano revealed that West Ham have submitted an increased proposal to Man United for Maguire, and even though chiefs are yet to speak to the defender himself, the two clubs are in ongoing negotiations. He wrote:
"West Ham and Manchester United are in direct contact over Harry Maguire deal. £30m bid has been sent today, clubs are talking — no contact made on player side yet. #WHUFC Talks will continue as there are more PL clubs interested in Maguire."
How good is Harry Maguire?
West Ham are close to completing the signing of Ajax defensive midfielder Edson Alvarez to replace Declan Rice having agreed a £35m deal to bring him to the Premier League, so Moyes will finally be able to move onto pursuing other targets, though having been labelled “terrible” by members of the media, Maguire is not a player the boss should be chasing.
The former Foxes leader was last season ranked the 18th best performing defensive player out of 26 squad members having averaged just 0.5 tackles per top-flight game, alongside listing 17th overall, via WhoScored, showing how little of an impact he makes.
Sponsored by Puma, the centre-back also contributes nothing at the opposite end of the pitch having recorded zero goals or assists across all competitions over the course of the previous campaign, so he leaves very little positive impression when stepping onto the pitch.
Finally, Maguire pockets £190k-per-week at Man United which is higher than any of the current players receive in E20, Lucas Paqueta being the top earner on £150k-per-week, so his salary demands would likely be high and he certainly wouldn’t be deserving of that much considering he wouldn’t definitely improve the team.
