Maguire 'would have thrived' under Guardiola Man City

Stuart Telford

• 29 Apr 2023 16:24 BST
• 3 min read

Harry Maguire could have been a key player for Manchester City instead of finding himself on the periphery across town at Manchester United, according to a former Red Devils coach.

Maguire find his career at a crossroads, an England regular who has been dropped by his current employers - despite their manager Erik ten Hag re-confirming him as club captain at the start of the season.

Maguire remains the most expensive centre-back of all time following his £80 million transfer from Leicester to Man Utd in 2019, but he now finds himself behind Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez in the Old Trafford pecking order.

READ: Why Harry Maguire fears Man Utd exit

The 30-year-old has been linked with a move away at the end of the season - anywhere from Paris Saint-Germain to Aston Villa - but it might have been so different.

City bid £70m for Maguire the summer he went to United - "We were interested, but we could not afford it," Pep Guardiola said at the time - the Catalan coach having tagged him as a potential successor to Vincent Kompany.

And it appears to have been a sliding doors moment for Maguire.

"One former member of staff on the football side at United concludes that Maguire was a good player in a dysfunctional environment, who he believes would have thrived at City with the stability and tactical acumen of Guardiola," reports the Athletic's Adam Crafton.

READ: Harry Maguire told transfer that would be 'match made in heaven'

City have won the Premier League twice since that summer, while United are without a top-flight title since Sir Alex Ferguson's final season in 2013.

"He's strong in the air, good with the ball, the build-up, he drives with the ball, he's fast, so fast. He has all the qualities. Congratulations to United for this signature," Guardiola also said in 2019.

That now sounds like a different player, but whichever club are willing to take a gamble on Maguire - who is now valued at just €29.8m (£26.4m) by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm - could land a bargain if they can get him back to his best.