Brendan Rodgers has given his latest update on the Harry Maguire saga, Leicestershire Live report.
The 26-year-old has been linked with a move away to Manchester United all summer, however, despite numerous attempts to buy the centre-back they have still been short of Leicester’s valuation of the player – more than £80m meaning it would be the record transfer of all time for a defender if this deal is to go through, with Matthijs de Ligt currently the most expensive defender after his move to Juventus (£76.95m, as per Transfermarkt).
Rodgers has now given his latest opinion on what the situation is with Harry Maguire.
He told BBC Leicester Sport: “As of this day, the valuation for Harry hasn’t been met that would trigger any communication with the player and the other club.
“There’s no change.
“For me, Top, John Rudkin (director of football) and Susan Whelan (chief executive) are doing a great job in relation to that.
“The club hasn’t changed its stance in terms of the valuation for the player.”
Leicester are standing strong with United and it looks like it will go to the wire to see whether he goes or not.
If he does leave, then Leicester will have a big problem replacing him as he was fantastic in defence last year. Not only did he show his quality as a defender, but his stats prove what a player he is on the ball as well, and what a threat he is in the opposition box.
His stats appear to be better than Jonny Evans, especially with the ball at his feet.
Defensively they both average one tackle per game, and Evans averages more interceptions with 1.4 compared to 1.2 and more clearances with 6.1 to 4.9. Maguire makes fewer fouls, averaging 0.6 fouls per game compared to 0.9, and makes more blocks per game with 0.6 compared to 0.4, according to WhoScored.
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.
It will be a huge loss to Rodgers if Maguire is to leave, but United are running out of time.
Maguire’s future is so hard to call at Leicester as it really depends on whether Manchester United will stump up the cash.
The longer the window goes on, the harder it will be for Manchester United, as Leicester won’t want to sell him without time to respend the money.
Rodgers has praised Maguire’s professionalism throughout this process, however, it could get ugly in the coming week or so as it seems the player wants the move, but the club don’t want to pay the price.
Will Maguire remain at the club? Join the discussion by commenting below…
