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Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano claims Harry Maguire has always been keen to join West Ham United as his Manchester United future continues to stutter.
Maguire has gone from captain of the Red Devils to fifth-choice centre back at the club, behind Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw.
And while injuries to Shaw and Varane might have offered Maguire a glimpse of first team action, Erik ten Hag’s reported urgency in seeking cover at left back, plus the one-year signing of free agent Jonny Evans, suggest that even under these circumstances, he will be warming the bench.
The Hammers agreed a £30 million deal with United for the England man but the deal broke down a couple of weeks ago, with various reports claiming he was holding out for a deal with a Champions League side and that he expected a pay-off to compensate him for the drop in salary he would have to accept to leave Old Trafford.
But over the weekend, rumours have started to circulate that the deal could be resurrected, with the London club potentially helping to offset the wage cut by paying a signing-on fee.
The possibility of it being a loan deal was also mooted.
And now, Romano says Maguire was always keen on the move but the problem now might be a lack of time to close the deal.
“I’m not aware of Harry Maguire rejecting West Ham … he has always been open to joining [them] this summer but he wants to do so on his conditions; and the player is also really attracted by the chance of joining David Moyes,” Romano said in his Caughtoffside column this morning.
“For the rest of the transfer window, Maguire would be open to a loan move from now to Deadline Day, but Erik ten Hag and Man United feel it’s going be difficult to replace him if he leaves on loan so at the moment it’s still not easy and it looks like the defender might stay.”
One player that could replace Maguire if he was to leave is OGC Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo. Nice are reportedly closing in on a replacement but United would have to sell Maguire for that deal to materialise, rather than send him out on loan.
There seems little advantage to United of a loan at this stage but a lot of pieces have to fall into place between now and 11pm on Friday if a permanent deal is to be completed.
