Rio Ferdinand has poured doubt on the long-term way forward for Harry Maguire at Manchester United as he lacks a key ingredient essential to a contemporary defender.
Maguire, 28, is presently in his third season at Outdated Trafford having moved from Leicester in the summertime of 2019. The Purple Devils paid within the area of £80m for the Sheffield-born ace. And they’ve their cash’s price, with the previous Hull Metropolis stopper enjoying each minute of United’s 2019-2020 league marketing campaign.
He began 34 occasions within the high flight final time period and has been seen on 22 events in 2021-2022. However his struggles at occasions this season have mirrored these of the crew’s.
Ralf Rangnick’s aspect could sit fourth within the Premier League standings. However they’ve laboured to simply 13 wins from 27 video games and are struggling for a top-four end.
Maguire’s latest shows have been scrutinised by pundits. And he was dropped to the bench as United drew 0-0 with struggling Watford on Saturday.
Subsequent up is the Manchester derby on Saturday, as United journey to the Etihad Stadium. It stays to be seen if Rangnick begins Maguire or Victor Lindelof.
And for Ferdinand, there are a lot of inquiries to be answered relating to the England centre-back.
“Is Maguire gonna allow you to win the league, that’s the query,” he stated on Vibe with 5, per The Mirror. “As a result of the factor about somebody like Ralf and all the highest groups now, after they play now, they play on the entrance foot. They’re aggressive and wanna win the ball excessive.
“So, due to this fact, you want defenders who can defend on the midway line. One-v-one, two-v-two – or three towards two in the event you want that safety.”
Maguire negatives outweigh positives for Ferdinand
Ferdinand is aware of a factor or two about defending, having graced the Outdated Trafford rearguard for a few years. And he’s uncertain whether or not Maguire has the flexibility to function how his supervisor would love.
“Should you can play two-v-two one-v-one or on the midway line, that allows you to have extra our bodies within the opponent’s half of the pitch. Therefore why groups do this to win the ball early and be nearer to the opposition’s objective to attain objectives,” he added.
“Liverpool do it tremendously nicely, Metropolis do it actually, rather well as nicely, Bayern [Munich] do it; three of the very best groups on the planet. Everybody’s going that manner of enjoying soccer, Ralf Rangnick’s type of soccer is like that.
“Can Maguire do this, are you able to do this with Maguire? That’s my drawback, that’s my difficulty.”
Maguire has been praised for his tactical consciousness and skill on the ball. Nevertheless, Ferdinand has questioned whether or not that’s now sufficient for him to stay with the velocity of opposition strikers.
“If I’m a centre ahead, if I’m one of many fast centre-forwards or fast large gamers, fast attackers, I’d be hanging round the place Harry Maguire is,” he continued.
“For all the nice traits that he has in his recreation, that could be a large weak point in his recreation. And that could be a elementary of the entire high groups is to have the ability to play one-v-one on the midway line.
“So, I believe for Maguire, long-term – until he can discover that additional yard of tempo – it’s gonna possibly be tough for him.”
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