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Manchester United have multiple gaps to fill ahead of manager Erik ten Hag’s second season in charge.
However, the club do not have as vast a transfer kitty as they did last summer and for the Dutchman to bring in his desired players, the club will need to raise capital via player sales.
Plenty of fringe players as well a few prominent names are set to depart Old Trafford with club captain Harry Maguire‘s departure drawing the most media attention.
Maguire has struggled under ETH
The Englishman really struggled to impress the new manager as he managed only 16 starts in all competitions.
Apart from high-profile errors, he seemed shorn of confidence and looked slow and tepid when on the ball while his pace or lack of forced the team to start from a lower defensive position than the manager would have liked.
What was worse was that he lost his preferred left centre-back position and found himself fifth-choice behind left back Luke Shaw.
England manager Gareth Southgate kept backing him on the international stage but did indicate something had to give in future or else the 30-year-old would lose his starting berth.
While Maguire has still not completely given up the chance to try and earn a place in Ten Hag’s team for next season, the fact that the club is looking to raise money through player sales might indicate a departure is on the cards.
A few Premier League clubs have expressed interest with The Telegraph reporting that Tottenham Hotspur are one of the teams.
“As reported by Telegraph Sport last week, Tottenham are also considering a bid for Juventus centre-back Gleison Bremer.
Spurs eyeing Maguire
“Manchester United’s Harry Maguire is another option as Tottenham aim to strengthen Postecoglou’s squad following his appointment earlier this month.
“Tottenham are yet to indicate whether they will bid for Maguire and there is no certainty they will, but interest has been registered in a player who former manager Mauricio Pochettino wanted to sign from Hull City, before the defender moved to Leicester and then joined United.”
Maguire, despite the intense criticism, has always been a model professional and at this stage, a parting of ways seems to be the best course of action for both parties.
He is valued at €20million as per Transfermarkt but United will try and get at least double that considering their huge initial investment of €87million back in 2019.