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Manchester United are reportedly willing to pay Harry Maguire a sum of £10 million to part ways with him this summer.
Maguire joined the club in 2019 for a staggering £80 million fee. Despite starting strong and even being made the club captain, he slowly fell down the pecking order at Old Trafford.
The Englishman went from being one of the first names on the team sheet in his first three seasons at Manchester United to losing his spot under Erik Ten Hag.
While the Dutchman didn't officially remove Maguire as the captain, he brought in Lisandro Martinez last summer to replace him in the starting XI. Ten Hag in turn made vice-captain Bruno Fernandez the defacto skipper.
Martinez and Raphael Varane remain the preferred center-back pairing, which has restricted Maguire to just eight starts (in 61 games) in the 2022-23 season. He has made eight more appearances as a substitute.
The Daily Mail has now reported that Manchester United are looking to cut ties with Maguire, and are even willing to pay him £10 million to facilitate his exit. This is because Maguire has another two years left on his £190,000-a-week contract.
The money the Red Devils will pay him is expected to compensate for the expected drop in salary he will see at any new club.
Gareth Southgate says Manchester United star Harry Maguire's place in England squad is under threat
Despite Harry Maguire's troubles at club level, England manager Gareth Southgate has stuck with him at the international level. He has started almost all games for the Three Lions when available despite finding himself on the bench regularly for Manchester United.
Maguire played in all six of England's UEFA Nations League games last year. He also featured in every game they played at the 2022 FIFA World Cup and started in both of their UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers in March.
However, Southgate recently admitted that he can't justify Maguire's inclusion in the starting XI when equally good players at other clubs are seeing match action regularly. In a recent interview, the England coach said (via The Guardian):
"Inevitably, it’s not a situation that can continue forever... Of course the longer that situation goes on the more concerning it is and we’ve got, in Marc Guéhi, Lewis Dunk, Tyrone Mings, players who are playing well without the same experiences of club European football or international football."
Maguire has notably been called up by Southgate for the team's upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers starting next week.
