One of Jose Mourinho’s three preferred central defender targets, this summer, not everyone is convinced about Harry Maguire.
Maguire arrived from Hull City to Leicester last summer but saw his valuation rise from £15m to £50m after one season and a decent World Cup. The Manchester City boss is not buying into the hype, it seems.
Pep Guardiola told Kevin De Bruyne to target Maguire’s lack of pace, the new Manchester City Amazon documentary has revealed
Footage from Manchester City: All or Nothing shows Guardiola speaking to De Bruyne during half-time of City’s game at Leicester in November 2017. Having taken the lead at the King Power Stadium through Gabriel Jesus just before the interval that day, the City manager was eager for his side to widen their lead in the second half.
Pointing at a tactics board, Guardiola encourages De Bruyne to exploit the space left by Maguire, who he describes as being “not fast”.
“You move here, Kyle [Walker] is here,” Guardiola explains.
“You move here and he moves back. There will be space here
“Find that situation because the guy (Maguire) is not fast… (inaudible) but you will find space here.”
Within four minutes of the game restarting, De Bruyne doubled City’s lead – scoring what proved to be the final goal of the afternoon.
Maguire, one of the stars of England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia, was briefly linked with a move to City early in the summer. Later reports suggested there was strong interest in him from Manchester United, with Jose Mourinho said to be keen on bringing in another centre half to bolster his backline at Old Trafford. A move failed to materialise, and Maguire is now thought to be close to signing an improved contract with Leicester.
City’s documentary landed on Amazon Prime earlier this week after its premiere at Manchester’s Printworks. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at City’s 2017/18 campaign, in which they won the Carabao Cup and the Premier League title.
Although City set several records as they breezed to the title, they missed out on the chance to seal it at home against neighbours Manchester United – losing 3-2 despite leading 2-0 at half-time. The footage from their dressing room after the defeat has been widely shared since the documentary was released.
