Harry Maguire

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If he was a foreign defender, scored in the WC and was part of a team that got to the semi-final, I’d suggest people on this board would be demanded sign him

He’s a proven international, knows the league, transfer fee and wages are inline with club policy so it will be a good signing. No guarantees, of course, but he’s got a more than even chance of being a success
 
There is no quota, only max numbers and the key one is 17 foreign players, having up to 5 HG i.e. English trained players has never been an issue. We have never really had 5 first choice English players - there tends to always be at least 1 or 2 squad players on that list.

If we buy Harry it is because he is good enough, the fact he doesn't take up one of the 17 foreign spots is a bonus. We are not under the kind of pressure we had a few years back when the squad was to big. That is why i'm minded to think the club must think he is good enough. I have my doubts as most do but the squad is thin and he is young and seems consistent. I can see it being a good move.

His homegrown status is not a bonus it’s the key to our interest. If he was foreign we simply would not be able to sign him and keep our current squad intact (assuming Rodri or an alternative comes in) he’s only attainable as a homegrown player because the only expendable player is Delph, and so any replacement for him has to have the same homegrown status.

Would we be in for him if there was no squad restrictions? Almost certainly not, he’s nowhere near the best around but those rules are in place, every club has to deal with them and it’s about finding the best solution.

If he comes, I think he will be a very expensive stop gap but will serve his purpose. Like a less important lescott, the fee will be seen as extortionate but we will get value from him. He isn’t going to be here for a decade, in a few years time the squad will have changed a bit with older players leaving, the likes of dinho, silva Aguero and crucially bravo. hopefully we will have brought through a few more academy players to either replace those or bolster the squad and ease the value of those 17 foreign spots. we will then have a bit more wiggle room, if/when that happens we won’t have to make do and can find the very best but until then these kind of signings are necessary
 
If he was a foreign defender, scored in the WC and was part of a team that got to the semi-final, I’d suggest people on this board would be demanded sign him

Speaking for myself, I can't really argue with this. If he was foreign and I had heard he was rated highly I would probably feel differently about this transfer. The difference is however, I don't watch much foreign football. I've seen Maguire play.

Of course I have trust in Pep but the thought of signing Maguie certainly isn't a signing that excites me.
 
It seems Pep and Txiki are still working on the defensive part of our squad. Highest improvability there, relative to other parts.
Cancelo, Angelino, Rodri, Maguire.

Especially height seems to be addressed (after listening to Pep re our weaknesses)
through Rodri and now maybe Maguire, certainly one of the top PL CBs.
Pep often said he needed Fern for corners or set pieces to support our CBs with his aerial presence, even without being really tall.

Maguire isn't slow over a longer distance, remember his sprint down our right flank.
Tall players have a disadvantage over the first yards but can accelerate over distance using their long legs. Remember Yaya. Or Bolt. - Fair comparison... ;-)

You just cannot have it both. Height - or pace on the 1st yards. You have to decide.
Anatomic rules and leverage effects. Pep surely is aware.

Will Maguire be the best solution? Not sure. There are better CBs out there, but no homegrowns if that is a key factor.

Are better CBs possible as a transfer target? Not sure again. We know about problems involved with De Ligt or Koulibaly. Others like Van Dijk are not in the market.

If Pep wants to address especially height Maguire is a good solution. Young Tosin has it too, but maybe won't get to top level.
Anyway we would improve that department. In front of both ends of the pitch.

Bad news for our opponents is the fact Pep further wants to improve an already fourmidable squad. :)
 
His homegrown status is not a bonus it’s the key to our interest. If he was foreign we simply would not be able to sign him and keep our current squad intact (assuming Rodri or an alternative comes in) he’s only attainable as a homegrown player because the only expendable player is Delph, and so any replacement for him has to have the same homegrown status.

Would we be in for him if there was no squad restrictions? Almost certainly not, he’s nowhere near the best around but those rules are in place, every club has to deal with them and it’s about finding the best solution.

If he comes, I think he will be a very expensive stop gap but will serve his purpose. Like a less important lescott, the fee will be seen as extortionate but we will get value from him. He isn’t going to be here for a decade, in a few years time the squad will have changed a bit with older players leaving, the likes of dinho, silva Aguero and crucially bravo. hopefully we will have brought through a few more academy players to either replace those or bolster the squad and ease the value of those 17 foreign spots. we will then have a bit more wiggle room, if/when that happens we won’t have to make do and can find the very best but until then these kind of signings are necessary

Disagree - assuming we go like for like and Vinny and Otamendi both leave we have 2 free slots within the 17 for central defenders. We might allocate one for a midfielder but that is a choice we would make and we could still sign a foreign CB, I very much doubt we will sign 2 CBs this summer. I count 15 Senior foreign players excluding those two and two of those are keepers. Sandler is 22 this year, I assume he will get one of the foreign slots or go on lone if we need that spot. The point is we can very easily buy 2x foreign CBs if we wan - I think we will buy HM and Rodri and that will be it.
 
If we only need 4 HG players what would be the point in signing both Maquire and Angelino? That would leave us with 5, 6 if Delph didn't leave. Suppose Angelino helps with the HG Trained in Europe but once those Angelino rumours surfaced I thought that would be it for HG players.
 
I don't think I've seen a homegrown keeper that could play anywhere near like we would want. I think the first homegrown keeper we see that can will come through our own academy. But not yet, assuming we want to loan Muric out for game time. Anywhere else there is no point having a homegrown player if they aren't competing for a first team place.
Kind of irrelevant because I think he was probably too good to stay as our backup, but Angus Gunn already was that guy. In my opinion he could definitely have played in our team.
 
Think there's a lot of negativity around Maguire but he has a lot of potential to be a real fan favourite here. The only issue is the price tag. We've seen so many players markedly improve under Pep and there's no reason why Harry wouldn't either. Having the heart of Englands defence at the club can only be a good thing
 
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