Rijo Sam Daniel
Manchester United told to replace Harry Maguire with Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt
Harry Maguire has had a rough season at Manchester United, and the former player Jose Kleberson suggests the club replace him with 22-year-old Juventus star Matthijs de Ligt. The Netherlands international was a former target of the Red Devils, but a move never came to fruition.
Maguire joined from Leicester City for a fee of £80million, which is a world-record fee for a defender. He has become a regular in the club’s starting XI and has rarely missed a league game for the Red Devils. While he has had a decent start to life in Manchester, his performances this season have been up for debate.
Speaking in an interview with Paddy Power (h/t Manchester Evening News), Kleberson tips Man United to get De Ligt, whom he believes is better than United’s skipper in several areas. However, he did not throw the Englishman under the bus, as he acknowledged his quality while also mentioning his weaknesses.
“Manchester United must make a few signings at centre-back position, primarily to replace Harry Maguire. He’s a great player and leader – but there are a too many moments that he just doesn’t perform, particularly when one-on-one or up against pacey players.”
“They need someone faster, stronger in the air, that can anticipate what will happen and that will be able to stop counter attacks. I like Matthijs de Ligt. Manchester United tried to bring him in a few years ago, but it didn’t work out. They need a player like him.”
Fair point?
The 28-year-old arguably needs to be replaced if he has been consistently bad and looked out of his depth. However, he was better in his previous seasons, where it felt that he was the only reliable centre-back. Criticisms are warranted, and the captain should use them as a means to motivate himself and get back into form. Every player has their poor spells of form.
However, to say that we need to replace the United star for not being good enough in a few games this season is a bit too much. He may not be the fastest defender in the world, but he has his strengths too. A dominant presence at the back, Maguire is imposing aerially on both ends of the pitch.
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No defender is absolutely perfect. Everyone has a chink in their armour. Compared to the times we endured in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, Maguire has significantly provided stability and consistency to our backline- especially in terms of weekly selection. He is yet to fully gel with Raphael Varane as well, as the Frenchman got injured earlier this season.
It is easy to target any player who is not in a good form. What we need to do is support our captain and make a judgement at a time when he can say for sure that he is not good enough for us. It is fair to say that time isn’t right now, with the club set to go under a tactical transition under Ralf Rangnick.
