Harry Maguire joined Manchester United from Leicester City for a reported fee of £80 million making him the world’s most expensive defender.
While there had been some rumours claiming the defender might not make his debut this weekend given that Man United will be facing a top-six opponent in Chelsea.
But the manager has made it clear that he is very impressed with Harry Maguire and the defender will most certainly start on Sunday.
Speaking to MUTV, the Man United boss said: “Harry has impressed me, very much so. He has come in as a presence.
“He is taller and bigger than I thought. He has come in as a real plus. He will have an impact on the rest of the boys.
“Harry is ready to play. I am sure he will put himself up when I ask him on Sunday if he is available because he has played many games for Leicester over the pre-season. He has trained well and he has looked sharp when he has been here.”
While United fans are joyous about the fact that they have a fine defensive line after so long but according to club legend Paul McGrath there is one weakness of Maguire’s that Chelsea can exploit on Sunday at Old Trafford.
“I would trust that United will put in a system at the back to cover Maguire’s big weakness – one that will be exploited by the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, and also Europe’s elite strikers whenever Manchester United return to the Champions League,” McGrath told the Irish Independent.
“Harry likes to carry the ball out – something all the top clubs look to encourage.
“But when the tactic goes wrong, as it occasionally must, he doesn’t have the blinding pace of Virgil van Dijk or Real Madrid ’s Raphael Varane to get back and tidy up.
“So there will have to be a bit of coaching work done at Carrington over the next few weeks so that United’s other defenders in any game realise that they must not get caught going up the pitch alongside Maguire – someone must always be ‘minding the house’.
“I’d have preferred United to make a Red Devil out of Kalidou Koulibaly, the Napoli defender, ahead of Maguire.
“But I understand why the club went Maguire’s way instead.
“He’s two years younger and Koulibaly is Senegalese, which would have forced United to buy an English player in another position where they might want to import a player.”
