I think he is you know. He is very good at defending - not the very best - but what his all round game is makes him one of the best. Just in a very different way.
I guess the problem for us as fans is we don’t really have any concept at all of how good Benkovic and Soyuncu are but we did pay a lot of money for them so it would be disappointing if neither became a first choice CB after £20m+ each. You just hope really that Rodgers knows.
Another way I think of it, is how many teams in world football wouldn’t be improved by Maguire starting for them? There isn’t one in England and no one abroad I think has 2 better centre halfs. Real Madrid would probably be the strongest argument.
Maguire is nowhere near the likes of Van Dijk, Varane, Ramos, Pique, Godin, Thiago Silva, Umtiti. True world class defenders De Ligt has the potential to be in the bracket. Maguire doesnt and wont ever be He is a very good defender thats it. No more no less He doesnt read the game well enough and when someone matches him physically which granted few do he struggles. Morgan has always had to pick them up Maguire is only as good as the person next to him. When Morgan struggled so did Maguire When Evans played Maguire played much better We would be laughing all the way to the back if we get a world record fee for Maguire Just think what Rio Ferdinand and John Terry would go for today if Maguire is £80-90M
The key thing that Maguire lacks is pace. He is susceptible to the odd John Stones moment when he tries to dribble out and loses possession and then has no pace to help him recover. Seems like a very down to earth and likeable type of player but never worth £80 million. I'm more old fashioned when it comes to roles on the pitch. I like centre halves who can defend and let the midfield and those further up the pitch do the fancy stuff away from the danger area. The Wes Morgan/Robert Huth partnership was the rock on which our title challenge was built. Before that, the best one was courtesy of Matt Elliott and Steve Walsh.
Hope it works out for him, still a very solid player. When he first signed and had that domestic trouble wasn't sure what I would think of him but he was a great signing and as far as I know exemplary off the pitch.
I thought Simpson was a top top right back for us - brought back the beauty of defenders that can defend. Can’t see him working at Celtic though... they are all about trying to break down teams who have 10/11 people behind the ball. Really they don’t need anything who can defend, only someone who can bomb it up and down the wings.
2 former players on the move Michael Morrison has signed for Reading and Anthony Knockaert is having a medical at Fulham
Being reported that we have accepted a £80m bid from Man Utd for Maguire. Leeds defender Callum Nicell played in a friendly match for us on Friday - looks like he will be joining our reserves along with former Aston Villa defender Mitch Clark.
No one credible has said anything as of yet But on Saturday no bid was made by anyone from the words of Brendan Rodgers so I smell BS with this rumour
Is it the same people that reported this last week and that he was having the medical last Monday? Actual transfer news, Knockaert has signed for Fulham. Been out of favour at Brighton so hope he does well.
