6 lesser known facts about the most expensive defender in history: Harry Maguire

#6 He did not start out as a defender

Maguire honed his ball-playing abilities from his time as a midfielder

This is a common theme football fans are used to, from Ederson starting out as a midfielder to Aaron Wan-Bissaka playing as a winger while younger, and given his top-notch ball playing attributes, it should come as no surprise that Harry Maguire honed his skills in his youth while playing as a midfielder.

He got his role change at the age of 16 when former Sheffield United academy manager John Pemberton switched him to defense.

Speaking with The Times, the 54-year-old said immediately he came to the club, he told Maguire:

”I won’t play you centre-midfield while I’m manager here, as a midfielder, lots of people can do what you can do. But as a centre-half, no one can do what you can do with a football."

“He’s an intelligent boy and he took everything on board. We worked on playing out from the back, accepting the mistakes if they made them, but starting a lot of out attacks from the centre-backs and full-backs and he took to it like a duck to water."

“He could defend, he could head it, he’s strong, he read the game very well. But what always marked him out as different from everyone else is the way he can handle the ball.”