Gary Neville has made the interesting point that England fans who worship Harry Maguire may stop if he gets his blockbuster transfer to one of the Premier League’s biggest clubs this summer.
Both Manchester clubs are keen on the 26-year-old, who was excellent for Leicester City last season and is an automatic starter in Gareth Southgate’s starting XI.
“If you think of the attributes for a centre back, he has them in abundance,” Neville told Sky Sports.
“Leicester fans won’t thank me for saying it, but they’re gonna get put under real pressure this summer to keep him.
“One thing I was thinking, was that the England fans must have sung his name during the game maybe 10 or 15 times. I wonder how that will be if he goes to Liverpool, or Manchester United, or Manchester City, and he becomes a player that’s playing for one of the clubs that are, to be fair, more disliked at the top of the league. I wonder whether he’ll get that same love.”
Maguire is a top player, but not someone on Liverpool’s radar. Virgil van Dijk is his far superior, and we actually think Joe Gomez has the scope to become a better defender, too.
Joel Matip was practically faultless after winning a spot in the side last term and will be desperate to keep his role alongside the best centre-back on the planet.
It’ll be mighty interesting to see who Jurgen Klopp goes with first up v Norwich… Much will depend on fitness and the performances during pre-season, of course – but right now – we’d suggest it’s actually a three way battle for one spot next to Virg – between Dejan Lovren, Gomez and Matip.
Either way, it’s quite a nice problem for the boss to have.