The night is low.
Manchester United Football Club
The club's high-profile announcement that Harry Maguire, England's rising star in defense, had joined for £80 million was thunderous.
Maguire's transfer was expected.
Manchester United Football Club
Since last year's underachievement, the desire for a defense has been clear for a long time. After a season of pain, the team is eager to rebuild the defense, and Maguire's arrival is undoubtedly the firmest choice this summer.
Maguire, 26, who played for Leicester City, stands at an astonishing 194 centimeters and is the quintessential super-heavy defender. Since 2017, he has risen to prominence with the Premier League's title-winning side Leicester City, and his fortunes have improved with exceptional performances in recent years. With the current scarcity of quality defenders in the footballing world, and the England national team facing the same problems at the back, Maguire's arrival at the 2018 World Cup comes at an opportune time, with England relying on Stones and Garry Cahill as their only two center backs, and Cahill being older, slipping in form, and plagued by injuries. England national team manager Southgate boldly use Maguire, the result is surprisingly successful, he, Stones, Cahill formed the defense line to help England into the World Cup quarter-finals, the defense is solid. The World Cup has made Maguire a stalwart of the England national team.
Maguire started his career at Sheffield United and, apart from a brief spell in the Championship in the 10/11 season, spent the next three years in League One. He was later spotted by Premier League side Hull City and signed for £17 million. However, he made just three appearances in the 14/15 season before being loaned out to Wigan Athletic to hone his skills in the Championship. By the time he returned from his loan spell, Hull City had been relegated to the Championship, where he spent another season until returning to the Premier League with Hull City in the 16/17 season. That year, at the age of 24, he made 29 appearances as a starter, and it's fair to say that he had little real-world experience in the Premier League before he turned 24.
Maguire's early performances were not impressive, and he was jokingly referred to as "the big guy". He wasn't technically gifted, he wasn't fast, he wasn't agile, and it was difficult for him to survive in the Premier League with just his height and headers. He is also not the type of player who is a ferocious tackler, and at a young age, apart from his height, he does not have the qualities that would attract a team to buy him, so perhaps he can only be used as a substitute.
However, after the age of 24, Leicester City spotted Maguire's potential and signed him for £17 million. Since then, his career at Leicester City has been turned upside down. Prior to this, he had only made one appearance for the England U21 national team and was barely on the selection radar for the England national team.
Having played for Leicester City, Maguire's ability has improved significantly. Once upon a time, when he was at Hull City, he often just stood as a wall in the box, and his header clearances were not always possible, and the headers that were cleared were many times not delivered to his teammates. But at Leicester City, he has improved his defensive ability, his long passes to find his man are more accurate, his control of his teammates' position is very clear, and most importantly, he has shown a unique skill in dribbling and defending by using the change of pace of the jogging.
Due to his height of 194cm, Maguire has difficulty in lowering his center of gravity to change direction when carrying the ball, which would have made him easy to be surrounded by opponents. However, with his improved ability to pass the ball from medium to long distances, opponents will have to defend his long passes once he has taken the ball and made a slight adjustment. With his great power, he is able to complete long passes with just a flick of the wrist, which makes opponents have to back off to defend the attackers in front of them, thus creating more space for Maguire to play in front of him. He uses a push forward with a high center of gravity when carrying the ball, which looks light and airy, and although it is not conducive to a change of direction sprint, his height and power make this style of play unique to him.
When opponents tackle head on, Maguire will shield the ball in his stride, creating a backside takeaway before distributing to his teammates. This style of play makes him a propulsive player with a high level of ball protection, who can often carry the ball across midfield and push it all the way out of the box or initiate long passes to the wings from halfway across the field.
Maguire's skillful use of physical dominance makes his possession of the ball difficult to steal, while dramatically increasing his attacking effectiveness. Defensively, he also uses the same change of pace to defend, and will slow down slightly before the opposing attacking midfielder passes the ball, standing on the line between the striker and the inside of the midfield to defend against a one-touch pass coming straight in. Due to his height and long legs, a hard pass from the center of the midfield could easily be blocked by him, so he could only be released slightly outside a bit, at which point the attacker would have to go around the outside in order to get a shot off on either side of the box. It is only after the pass is released that Maguire accelerates to catch up with the striker, and using his big stride, he can rear up to get to the clearance before the attacker can shoot, and of course he is quite accurate with the last step.
