Harry Maguire believes West Ham are a ‘massive club’ but insists a rumoured £30 million departure from Premier League giants Manchester United was not quite as close as some had claimed.
Hammers boss David Moyes might have confirmed in mid-August that the Conference League champions had seen their £30 million bid ‘accepted’ by Manchester United but it seems that is as far as things went.
Harry Maguire never appeared quite as keen on West Ham as they were on him. There were reportedly issues with personal terms, with the England international keen to fight for his place and win over a coach in Erik ten Hag who had stripped him of the captain’s armband a few weeks earlier.
Harry Maguire fighting for Manchester United future
“The actual opportunity to go to West Ham wasn’t agreed really between the two clubs and myself. It wasn’t just my chance to say ‘yes, I’m going’,” Maguire now tells Sky Sports.
“It wasn’t agreed between both clubs. The opportunity wasn’t there because we didn’t get far enough down the line. West Ham is a massive club but, like I said, my full focus is on Manchester United.
“I want to fight for my place. But of course, game time is really important.”
With Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw all suffering with injuries, suddenly Maguire is finding ‘game time’ a little easier to come by under Ten Hag.
He was excellent in the Carabao Cup hammering of Crystal Palace – rattling passes through the lines in a manner reminiscent of his Leicester City days – and then set up another West Ham target Scott McTominay for the Scot’s 97th minute winner against Brentford on Saturday.
Big role in Brentford win
According to TEAMtalk, Ten Hag has been ‘impressed’ by Maguire’s resilience and his never-say-die spirit. An approach one Jadon Sancho could stand to learn quite a bit from.
It remains to be seen, however, if Maguire has done enough to keep his place when Varane, Martinez and Shaw return over the coming weeks and months.
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