{"id":158157,"date":"2025-06-04T18:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T18:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/158157\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T18:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T18:22:09","slug":"harry-maguire-praised-by-premier-league-striker-as-manchester-united-defender-ranked-alongside-virgil-van-dijk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/158157\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Maguire praised by Premier League striker as Manchester United defender ranked alongside Virgil van Dijk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire may have his detractors, but he is certainly highly rated by Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manchester United<\/a> spent big money on centre-backs last summer as Matthijs de Ligt and Leny Yoro arrived at Old Trafford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

United have really thrown money at the centre-back position over the years, from Eric Bailly through to Lisandro Martinez.<\/p>\n

Victor Lindelof was a significant signing from Benfica in 2017, but the Swede will now depart Old Trafford at the end of his contract this summer.<\/p>\n

None of those additions were quite as expensive as Harry Maguire<\/a> following his 2019 move from Leicester City.<\/p>\n

United forked out \u00a380million for Maguire<\/a>, with the England international going through a wide range of ups and downs in his six years at the club.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Simon Stacpoole\/Offside\/Offside via Getty ImagesPremier League striker hails Manchester United\u2019s Harry Maguire<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maguire is now approaching 250 appearances for United in all competitions and is expected to remain a key part of Ruben Amorim\u2019s side next season.<\/p>\n

Maguire rejected a move to West Ham United<\/a> in 2023, instead deciding to stay and fight for his place.<\/p>\n

United\u2019s run to the Europa League final featured late heroics from Maguire, as he headed home in the dying stages to secure victory over Lyon.<\/p>\n

Maguire has faced major scrutiny ever since his move to United, but Amorim clearly values him highly.<\/p>\n

Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz has now offered praise to Maguire after being asked to name the toughest defender to face in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

Muniz told The Athletic<\/a> that Maguire is right up there with Liverpool\u2019s Virgil van Dijk as the Premier League\u2019s very best.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian suggested that Maguire \u2018doesn\u2019t leave you in peace\u2019, and is \u2018constant\u2019 when it comes to making contact with strikers.<\/p>\n

Muniz feels any striker must be \u2018very focused\u2019 when facing Maguire, highlighting his physicality in duels.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Harry) Maguire,\u201d said Muniz when asked to name the toughest Premier League centre-back.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaguire and Van Dijk would be my top two \u2014 Van Dijk gives you a bit more space. The perfect centre-back would be a mix of Maguire and Van Dijk. It\u2019s very difficult to play against both of them. Both have so much quality, both in the physicality and the pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always making contact, doesn\u2019t leave you in peace, it\u2019s constant. You have to be very focused,\u201d he added on Maguire.<\/p>\n

Manchester United could add another centre-back this summer<\/strong><\/p>\n

United are saying goodbye to two centre-backs this summer.<\/p>\n

As mentioned earlier, Lindelof is leaving United at the end of his contract after eight years in Manchester.<\/p>\n

Jonny Evans has decided to retire<\/a>, meaning United may need to recruit another defender \u2013 especially with Lisandro Martinez out injured.<\/p>\n

Udinese\u2019s Oumar Solet has been linked with United<\/a> after shining in Serie A and could be a name to watch this summer.<\/p>\n

Amorim will certainly still lean on Maguire\u2019s experience moving forward, and another new contract would not be a surprise after United activated a one-year option in his current deal.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United defender Harry Maguire may have his detractors, but he is certainly highly rated by Fulham striker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,175,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-158157","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-harry-maguire","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114626490879250897","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}