Liverpool are reportedly interested in raiding Premier League rivals Leicester City to sign England centre-back Harry Maguire.
Liverpool’s search for a young English centre-back has taken them, at last, to perhaps the best of the lot.
The Independent reported recently that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wanted to sign either Jamaal Lascelles from Newcastle United or James Tarkowski from Burnley. So far, however, Harry Maguire has been strangely absent from the gossip columns. Until now.
Maguire wouldn’t come cheap though, as you might expect. In reports produced by The Sun back in April, it is understood that Leicester told Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham to fork out £50 million at least for Maguire, just a year after The Foxes signed him from Hull City for £33 million less.
That would mean Liverpool will have to shell out another massive fee for a centre-back, a few months after making £75 million Virgil van Dijk the most expensive defender ever. But is the 25-year-old actually worth such a fee?
You could make a case that he is. Maguire is certainly a step up on Dejan Lovren, Ragnar Klavan and Joel Matip so would improve Liverpool’s starting XI. And he is pretty much the perfect modern-day defender, combining strength in the air and excellent positional sense with the ability to stride forward, pass the ball impressively and start attacks from deep.
Maguire fits Klopp’s gameplan perfectly and will only get better too.
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