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After months of intense speculation surrounding Harry Maguire’s transfer to Manchester United, the Red Devils have officially signed him on a six-year deal reportedly worth £85m.
That figure sees Maguire become the most expensive defender of all time, eclipsing the £75m Liverpool paid for Virgil Van Dijk in January 2018, and fans of Manchester United would be hoping that the England international goes on to justify the huge faith shown in him.
Maguire is an extremely technical player, who is adept with the ball at his feet while his imposing frame and height mean that he is a useful asset in both boxes.
He established himself as one of the top English centre-backs with his performances for Hull City and Leicester City over the last four years, and it came as no major surprise when he emerged on the radar of the Red Devils.
In this piece, we shall be presenting six lesser known facts about Manchester United’s newest signing.
#1 Harry is not his first name
His full name is Jacob Harry Maguire, with his Wikipedia page confirming this; evidently he however chose to go by his middle name, much like Joe Hart who has Charles as his first name, but chose to use 'Joe' for Joseph.
#2 He grew up idolizing John Terry and Rio Ferdinand
In the past, Harry Maguire has stated his admiration for John Terry and Rio Ferdinand while he was growing, stating,
‘’The two greatest centre-halves when I was growing up were John Terry and Rio Ferdinand.”
‘’I really looked up to them, especially Rio Ferdinand because he brought the ball out of defense very well. Very comfortable on the ball and he had a bit of everything in his prime; a great centre-half in his time.”
Rio Ferdinand is of course a Manchester United legend, and fans of the club hope the 26-year-old can reach the lofty heights attained by his childhood idols.
#3 He comes from a footballing family
As fully fledged English international and established Premier League regular, Harry Maguire is pretty well known all over the world, but a lesser known fact is that two of his brothers are also footballers and more specifically defenders.
His 21-year-old brother Laurence Maguire plays for Chesterfield FC in the National League (5th tier of English football) and was recently selected to represent England at C level (for Under 23 players non-league football), while 23-year-old Joe also plays as a defender for Accrington Stanley in League One.
#4 He excelled at multiple sports
As a young lad, Maguire’s sportsmanlike physique attracted him to numerous sports, most of which he excelled at.
Indeed he did not focus solely on football until late in his teens and attributes his all round features to his development in other sports.
He credits cross country for his stamina, Rugby for his bravery, weaving in and out of players and agility, while Hockey is to be thanked for his vision and passing. Talk about versatility!
#5 He also excelled in academics
The young Harry was not a whiz on just the field, as he was very much as excellent in the classroom, getting A* and A grades in his GCSEs.
Speaking to TalkSports, his former assistant head teacher Sue Cain confirmed this,
“He had his head screwed on even at that age. He did everything you asked him to do and he never questioned why. He was popular, and he was huge."
“Even at a young age, he was very tall but he has filled out since then too. He towered over the other teams and got A* and A grades in his GSCEs."
“I think he would have gone on to study business or math and probably would have been an accountant. He was very capable academically.”
United fans would however be pleased that he ditched the calculators and followed the path of becoming a professional footballer.
#6 He did not start out as a defender
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.”
