Man United defender Harry Maguire says West Ham are ‘massive’ and has lifted the lid on the real truth about the failed move in an England press conference.
West Ham were said to be on the verge of signing Manchester United defender Harry Maguire having had a £30m bid accepted during the summer window.
But after spending much of the window fruitlessly chasing the Man United centre-back, West Ham boss David Moyes had to pivot and signed Greek international Konstantinos Mavropanos instead.
Many West Ham fans were reluctant to see the club sign Maguire. But as it edged ever closer, most felt it could be the perfect move, under the ideal manager, to resurrect his career.
Maguire saga ended in stalemate and saw outcast criticised
Many Red Devils fans wanted to see him leave after it emerged Erik ten Hag desperately needed the money to make signings of his own, with a deal for Benjamin Pavard falling through as a result.
There has been claim and counter claim about the reasons why Maguire did not end up joining West Ham.
Some said Maguire did not think West Ham were a big enough club for him. Others claimed he wanted to fight for his place at Old Trafford and one suggested he did not want to uproot his family.
The one that has stuck seems to be that Maguire and Manchester United could not agree on his severance pay-out for the remaining two years of his £190k per week contract.
Man United defender Harry Maguire says West Ham are ‘massive’ and lifts the lid on the real truth about failed move in England press conference
West Ham assistant coach Kevin Nolan claimed on talkSPORT last month that Moyes was in contact with Maguire and that the deal came ‘very close’.
But he suggested again that it failed due to the pay-out between Man United and Maguire.
“I think it was just in the end, the money didn’t get sorted from what I can gather which is obviously upsetting from our behalf because we wanted to [sign him],” Nolan said.
“Probably upsetting from Harry’s behalf and probably United’s behalf as well.”
Maguire has been criticised for not leaving to join West Ham with Jamie Carragher recently saying he should have jumped at the chance.
‘West Ham is a massive club’
But now the defender has opened up in detail about the failed move in an England press conference.
And he has refuted suggestions he did not feel West Ham were big enough for him, insisting the deal did not happen because an agreement was never properly reached between the clubs and himself and Man United.
“Regular game time is really important to me, it has been throughout my career,” Maguire said when asked why he did not sign for West Ham.
“The actual opportunity to go to West Ham wasn’t agreed really between both clubs and myself. So it wasn’t just my chance to say ‘Yes and I’m going’.
“It wasn’t agreed between both clubs so the actual opportunity wasn’t there because we didn’t get far enough down the line with it.
“But West Ham is a massive club. But like I said my full focus is still on Manchester United, I want to fight for my place but of course regular game time is really important to me.”
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