Some Manchester United fans have criticised summer signing Harry Maguire for his performances so far this season at Old Trafford.
The England international has already appeared 11 times in the Premier League for the Old Trafford side, also playing one time each in the Europa League and in the Carabao Cup so far.
The 26-year-old joined United from Leicester City this past summer for a fee of £80 million. That helped United eclipse what Liverpool paid to Southampton to sign Virgil van Dijk in the January of 2018.
Some United fans have not reacted positively to how Maguire has started his stint at the club.
Mediocre
— Ishant Gupta (@ishantg) November 2, 2019
Nathan ake is better than him
— #isolestillatthewheel? (@AlastairJohnso1) November 2, 2019
80 million is 40 million more than what he is actually worth, gets caught out so many times and leaves others exposed…
— Nicø19 (@Anonymous1076) November 2, 2019
Same as the day we signed him. Expensive and slow. But his partner @vlindelof is not helping
— Sveinn Olafsson (@svenniola) November 2, 2019
Big waste of money he’s been average at best can’t handle players running at him and gets exposed easily
— ??Martial_SZN (@AM9Martial) November 2, 2019
Looks overweight.
— MUFC RIP 2013 (@MufcRip) November 2, 2019
Despite taking this criticism, Maguire has been the club’s best player aerially. He has won the highest number of aerial duels per game at an average of 3.7 (via WhoScored). That is 0.7 more than Diogo Dalot, who is at second in the standings.
The former Sheffield United and Hull City man has also been the club’s fourth-best interceptor so far. He is behind Dalot, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Axel Tuanzebe in the rankings, making 1.5 interceptions per game.
While some reactions have indeed been negative, some other fans feel that Maguire needs better players around him.
In his last season at the King Power Stadium, Maguire played 31 times in the Premier League. He also scored three times for the club, out of which one came in Leicester’s away game at Anfield against Liverpool.
What do we think?
The aforementioned stats show that Maguire has improved United defensively. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have the fourth-best defensive record in the Premier League, having let in only ten goals so far. That is one goal less than Manchester City and two goals less than Liverpool.
Maguire, who is valued at £63 million (as per Transfermarkt), hasn’t been the best though, which is perhaps why his value is below the £80 million he signed for. But the 26-year-old needs a stable system and a better set of defenders around him to make an even bigger impact.