The night is low.
Manchester United Football Club
The club suddenly dropped a bombshell by announcing a whopping £80 million transfer fee to bring in England center back Harry Maguire, news that instantly set the soccer world on fire.
This transfer deal has been brewing in the minds of fans for a long time.
Manchester United Football Club
The preference for Maguire has been a long time coming. After last year's poor performance on the defensive end of the team, the team was in dire need of a rebuild on the defensive line. After much deliberation, the
Manchester United Football Club
A firm decision was made to bring Maguire into the fold this summer.
Harry Maguire, 26, formerly of Leicester City, is a typical super-heavy center-back at 194cm. Maguire has been making his mark in the Premier League since the 2017 season and his impressive performances have made him a hot commodity in the footballing world in just a few years. The England national team is also facing a shortage of center backs, and during the 2018 World Cup, only Stones and Garry Cahill were left in England's center backs, while Cahill was old, slipping in form, and riddled with injuries. At this time, Maguire is like a god, England national team manager Southgate boldly use him, the result is a surprise victory.Maguire, Stones, Cahill composed of the back line of defense for England all the way to the World Cup quarter-finals, the defensive end of the performance is excellent. The World Cup has made Maguire the main center back of the England national team.
Maguire began his career at Sheffield United and, apart from a brief appearance in the Championship in the 10/11 season, he spent the next three years honing his skills in League One. He was then signed by Premier League side Hull City. However, after making just three appearances for Hull City in the 14/15 season, Maguire was loaned out to Wigan Athletic to continue his training in the Championship. Hull City were relegated to the Championship by the time he returned from his loan spell, and he spent another year in the Championship before returning to the Premier League with Hull City in the 16/17 season. He appeared in 29 games as a starter that year, by which time he was 24 years old, and it's fair to say he gained little experience in the Premier League until he was 24.
Maguire's accomplishments are inextricably linked to his own hard work and talent. Some have jokingly referred to him as the goofy big man that people call him, not previously seen to have particularly impressive skills, not fast, not even agile. His ability to use his height to head the ball is certainly good, but it can be very difficult for a young 20 year old to survive in the Premier League with just that. He also doesn't appear to be the type to make particularly vicious tackles, and in a weak championship where overall ability has yet to improve, Maguire doesn't really have what it takes to entice teams to buy him other than his size, and even if they want him, he should only be used as a replacement.
However, after the age of 24, Maguire was picked up by Leicester City who bought him for £17 million. Since then, he has undergone a sea change at Leicester City. Prior to this, he had only made one appearance for England U21 and it is fair to say that he was not even in the selection eye of the England national team.
Maguire's ability has improved immensely during his time with Leicester City. As you can see, during his time at Hull City, he often just stood in the box as a wall, and his header clearances weren't always clearing wide. Likewise, the headers cleared were often not given to teammates. But after his Leicester City outing, he has improved his defensive game quite a bit, and his long passes to find his man are much more accurate, with a very clear understanding of his teammates' positions. Most importantly, he clearly uses slow and sharp tempo changes to carry the ball and defend, which is just a basic skill in an average player, and not a winning skill unless it's extraordinarily explosive. But with Maguire, who is 194cm tall and very powerful, it starts to become his unique skill.
Maguire can be considered too tall due to his height of 194cm, not but tall. When he is carrying the ball, his center of gravity can't be low enough to make a change of direction. Originally, this kind of dribbling is not generally feared, as long as a huddle will still drop the ball. However, after Maguire's ability to pass the ball from mid to long distance has improved, as soon as he takes a step away from the ball, the opponent has to guard against his long passes. Because of his power, he can form a long pass with just one touch, so the opponents have to start backing up to guard the attacker in front of them, and then the space in front of Maguire will become bigger. He uses a high center of gravity to push the ball forward when he is carrying it, which looks like he is floating, which is not a good way to change direction and burst into a sprint. However, Maguire's height is not suitable for changing direction and sprinting, and what he does is to push the ball forward with a big stride, and when the opponent comes over he will use his stature to block the opponent, and slow down the tempo to use his body to block between the opponent and the ball, and then push forward again.
When the opponent tries to come up to intercept the ball, Maguire will take a big step to protect the ball to form a backbone, and then distribute it to his teammates. This style of play makes him a highly protective pusher, who can often take the ball across the center line all the way to the outside of the box, or else suddenly launch a long pass to the wings from the center line.
This is where Maguire uses his physical strengths very effectively, making him a very poor tackler with the ball in his hands, and at the same time making his attacks much more effective. On the defensive side, Maguire will also use the same tempo slowdown for defense, he will slow down a little bit before the opponent attacking midfield passes the ball, staying on the line between the striker and the inside of the midfield to defend against the one-touch ball that comes in straight. Because of his height and long legs, if the midfielder has to pass hard to the center, it will easily be blocked by him, so he can only put a little outside a little bit, at this time, the attacker must be a little bit more around the outside in order to shoot on both sides of the penalty area. When the pass is released, Maguire accelerates to catch up with the striker, and using his big stride, he can catch the ball before the attacker shoots, and of course, he is quite accurate in clearing the ball at the last point.
