Leicester City’s Harry Maguire has missed training today, bringing about stronger rumours of his departure, The Daily Mail report.
According to the report, Maguire called in sick yesterday morning (Monday, July 29) and was duly given the day off from training by the club doctor.
It is allegedly the first session that Maguire has missed in all of his pre-season.
Maguire and Manchester United have been linked all summer, yet there has still been no transfer fee agreed between the two clubs, with Leicester demanding £90m for their star asset.
The Independent reported over a week ago that United were £10million short of Maguire, after making a bid of £70m for the centre back.
Maguire played the whole match in Leicester’s most recent game – a 2-1 win away at the Bet365 Stadium.
Maguire missing a training session due to illness shouldn’t necessarily be seen as meaning that he will join Manchester United, especially considering that he is not considered a disingenuous character if Rodgers’ words are anything to go by.
Speaking recently about Maguire, Rodgers said to Sky Sports News last week: “Harry is working with a group of fantastic players and is at a great club, and like I say times have changed in football, where at times with other clubs you would have had to sell a player, but it’s not the case.
“He’s a player that is training, working. What I would say is he’s been the ultimate professional. It’s actually been a joy to work with him, because I’ve been in this situation with a number of players, but his concentration is fully on Leicester.
“You see by his performance, and in training every day he’s been absolutely first class.”
Leicester fans will be hoping that this missed training session is just purely through illness, as he would be a huge loss for the Foxes. Last season, his stats suggest to what an all-round player Maguire is. Defensively, he an Evans had some similar stats, but it’s his ball-playing ability and threat from set-pieces that really stands him apart.
Maguire has scored three times this season to Evans’ one and averages twice as many shots per game, with Maguire averaging one and Evans 0.5 – highlighting his threat from corners while Maguire averages 0.4 key passes compared to Evans’ 0.2.
He also makes a really impressive 0.5 dribbles per game, which shows his tremendous ability to travel with the ball from centre back to start attacks, something highlighted by the Premier League‘s official website in 2017.
Harry Maguire missing a training session doesn’t really imply that he’s off to Manchester United. In fact, the longer this saga goes on the better the chance he will stay at Leicester, as they won’t be able to find a suitable replacement.
At £80-90m Maguire does not represent great value for money, but he does represent the best that Manchester United can get. If United take a look at Liverpool’s book, spending money on a top centre-half is worth it if it can improve the side.
For Leicester, they will want answers as soon as possible. They will want to reinvest some of the money that they get for him, but they will only be able to do that once he signs, so United need to hurry up to avoid the Leicester board.
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