Former Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand has admitted that new Red Devil Harry Maguire cannot be compared to Liverpool stalwart Virgil van Dijk.
The England international recently made an £80million move from Leicester City to Old Trafford, and much is riding on the success of the defender.
The fee paid broke the record set by Liverpool for the most expensive defender of all times, after van Dijk swapped Southampton for Merseyside.
Since the arrival of the Dutchman, the Reds have turned into Premier League title challengers and Champions League winners – and he plays no small part in that.
Whether Maguire can now offer the same to his new club remains to be seen, but the expectation will be weighing down on his shoulders.
Ferdinand believes that the former Leicester man shouldn’t be expected to burden the same weight as van Dijk. “Inevitably he is going to be judged against someone like van Dijk because he has gone for more money,” he told the Express.
“He’ll be judged against what he’s done and they’ve now won the Champions League.
“But I think it’s an unfair comparison because what Virgil came in to was a team that was closer to the top, closer to winning and a lot of the jigsaw was already pieced together.”
I think Rio is right – Liverpool were a much more complete side that what we see at Manchester United even now. Maguire isn’t one of the last pieces of the puzzle, he’s one of the first.
When we signed van Dijk, we also brought in Alisson and Fabinho shortly after – these two transfers also helped propel the club into glory.