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West Ham 'pull out of race for Manchester United's Harry Maguire'

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 29 August 2023

West Ham 'pull out of Harry Maguire race'

West Ham United reportedly withdraw their interest in signing Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire, deeming the England international too expensive.

West Ham United have reportedly ended their interest in signing Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire.

The Irons have been fighting tooth and nail to bring the world's most expensive defender to the London Stadium after he was stripped of the Red Devils captaincy by Erik ten Hag.

West Ham had apparently agreed a £30m deal with Man United for Maguire's signature, but a deal collapsed after the defender failed to agree terms over a payoff with the Red Devils.

Instead, David Moyes's men brought Dinos Mavropanos back to England from Stuttgart for £18m, but they have supposedly been considering reigniting their interest in Maguire in the final week of the transfer window.

West Ham would have apparently been happy to increase their initial £30m bid, allowing Man United to use the funds to negotiate Maguire's payoff, but Raphael Varane's injury has thrown a spanner into the works.

Harry Maguire pictured on June 16, 2023 © Reuters

The Frenchman came off injured in the weekend's 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest, and The Mirror claims that he could miss the next six weeks as he recuperates.

As a result, Man United are no longer actively trying to offload Maguire, and a recent report stated that any future approaches from West Ham would be swiftly rebuffed.

Having received little encouragement that a deal could be revived, journalist Florian Plettenberg has said that West Ham have now withdrawn their interest, as any move for the 30-year-old would now be far too expensive.

Maguire would have supposedly been willing to accept a significant salary decrease to play regularly in West Ham colours, but the England international is also willing to stay and fight for his place at Old Trafford.

With Varane potentially missing the whole of September, Victor Lindelof will likely come in to partner Lisandro Martinez, leaving Maguire as Erik ten Hag's only backup centre-back option.

Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire on May 4, 2023 © Reuters

Maguire was Man United's fifth-choice centre-back behind Martinez, Varane, Lindelof and Luke Shaw last season, but the latter is also facing several weeks on the sidelines with a serious muscular injury.

The Red Devils are working to add a new left-back to their squad to cover for Shaw during his rehabilitation, but they are no longer considering a new centre-half, despite also waving goodbye to Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe on free transfers.

Kim Min-jae was mooted as a prime target before signing for Bayern Munich from Napoli, and the South Korean's teammate Benjamin Pavard is now expected to join Inter Milan after Maguire's reluctance to leave Old Trafford.

A loan deal for Chelsea's Marc Cucurella is being discussed, but the Spaniard will be brought in to play purely on the left-hand side, despite sometimes being deployed centrally in a back three last term.

Former Hull City and Leicester City man Maguire has scored seven goals and provided five assists in 175 matches for the Red Devils since becoming the world's most expensive defender in 2019, but he has not played a competitive match in 2023-24 so far.