Man Utd's PLAN to offload Maguire to Chelsea

Tom Weber

• Updated: 2 Jun 2023 11:35 BST
• 3 min read

Erik ten Hag has come up with a plan to get rid of Harry Maguire and sign Mason Mount in one fell swoop, according to a report.

Manchester United have been heavily linked with Chelsea midfielder Mount in recent days, with one report claiming that personal terms had already been agreed and the only remaining issue was the Blues' hefty asking price of €80 million, with United keen to get him in for around half of that.

In Manchester, meanwhile, Harry Maguire has fallen out of favour this season as Erik ten Hag has been more convinced by the centre-back partnership of Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane and even Victor Lindelof when the two weren't available.

Club captain Maguire, therefore, has long since been linked with a departure in order to salvage his place in the England team, with even his Dutch coach admitting that the 30-year-old is not having an easy time.

READ: Why Chelsea shouldn't sell Mount & Kovacic to Premier League rivals

United are keen to offload some of their deadwood from previous regimes, and Maguire is a prime candidate to leave this summer. Now, a report claims that Ten Hag could use his club captain as a makeweight to land Mount.

A swap deal?

According to the Sun, United are pondering whether or not to include Maguire in their financial package for Mount to sweeten the deal for Chelsea given that the Red Devils will likely be unable to match their asking price due to the ongoing uncertainty over the ownership situation.

It is undeniable that United will try to move Maguire on this summer, but the question is, why would Chelsea agree to such a deal? Though still a capable defender, the 30-yeard-old is deemed not good enough for United, so why would Chelsea want to sign him if they themselves are looking to get back into the top four next season?

READ: Brighton make Colwill decision and target former Rangers star

Moreover, the Blues already have enough centre-back depth especially with Levi Colwill returning from his Brighton loan. Indeed, they have so many options at the heart of the defence that some reports claim that they already want to offload Kalidou Koulibaly after just one season.