Speaking on Last Word on Spurs, Sky Sports’ Lyall Thomas has been discussing Harry Maguire’s future and the idea of the defender moving to Tottenham.
Maguire’s days as a Manchester United player look to be numbered, and many – namely Jamie O’Hara, have been touting a move to Tottenham as the next step in his career.
A move to Spurs would be quite logical for Maguire at the moment, but according to Thomas, this is a move that has been years in the making.
Indeed, the journalist says that Spurs actually looked at Harry Maguire when he was leaving Hull back in 2017, but Mauricio Pochettino blocked a deal because he didn’t rate the player.
Spurs could’ve had Maguire
Thomas shared what he knows about Maguire and Spurs.
“I thought you would like to know and I may have mentioned this before. Back when he was at Hull and he was moving to Leicester there were some reports that Tottenham wanted to sign him. There was some interest from people at the club then, but what I knew at the time was that Pochettino didn’t rate him at that point, he didn’t think he was the right defender for him, he didn’t think he could play the ball well enough for him,” Thomas said.
Wasn’t needed
In hindsight, not signing Maguire at that point was a good decision from Spurs.
Yes, he’s gone on to become an £80m player and one of England’s most reliable defenders, but he’s not a Pochettino player.
Indeed, the Argentine’s high line would’ve exposed Maguire’s lack of pace, and even at his best, he wasn’t as good as Toby Alderweireld or Jan Vertonghen.
Maguire wasn’t a good fit for that iteration of Tottenham Hotspur and the club were right to steer clear.
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