Manchester United signed centre-back Harry Maguire from Leicester City for a reported fee of around £80 million.
This actually means Harry Maguire is not the world’s most expensive defender surpassing Virgil Van Dijk’s move to Liverpool last year.
“Manchester United is delighted to confirm the signing of Harry Maguire from Leicester City,” the statement from Man United read.
“Harry signs on a six-year contract, with the option to extend for a further year.”
This is undoubtedly a fine signing for Man United since almost every fan as well pundit was urging Solskjaer to revamp his defensive lineup before the 2019-20 season.
Even Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has come out to slam Man United for spending so much money on the England international.
“For example, in England, they paid £85m for a player. In Napoli, I would pay £30-£35m.” he said.
“The problem of the super cost of the players is due to England. In England, they gross more money than in France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
“If a club grosses £800m, they have no problem to offer around £80m, £90m, £100m for one player. There is not a real good and fair competition between England and the other countries.”
But at the same time, there has been a lot of criticism regarding the transfer fee paid by Manchester United with many claiming that the Red Devils have made the market unstable.
Speaking about the transfer, former Spurs man Gary Lineker though has claimed that the signing of Harry Maguire might be a double-edged sword but it will eventually bring success to Man United.
“Both. Of course, he’s overpriced because the market is mad. First thing you think is, “Oh, £80 million, that’s a lot for a centre-half” and it is, it’s a mad amount of money,” Lineker said.
“We’ve (Leicester) lost a really good player so what’s important now is how that money is spent on replacements. It could be really beneficial, but for supporters, they’re losing another good player just as they start to think we’re doing well.
“Manchester United needed a ball-playing central defender and Solskjaer wanted Maguire. He’s a terrific player so the board backed him.
“Some Manchester United fans will say, “Oh we’ve overpaid”, but it doesn’t make any difference to them. It’s just a number, isn’t it? The club will still make loads of money. Liverpool fans said it about Van Dijk, but nobody’s saying it now.
“Van Dijk’s gone on to be brilliant.”
