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MANCHESTER. – Harry Maguire turned down an eye-watering £278 000-a-week contract offer from Manchester City for a move to their fierce English Premiership football rivals Manchester United this summer.
The staggering contract offer from the Premier League champions would have seen the England international net a whopping £70million over five years.
But the powerful 26-year-old centre-back rejected their ambitious offer and instead joined United from Leicester for £80million, a world record for a defender.
Starsport has reported that Maguire and his representatives had several meetings with City chiefs and was offered a financial package that would have seen him become the highest-paid defender in the world.
But the Sheffield-born star had already decided to join United, who he supported as a boy, and ultimately signed a contract with United that is worth almost £100 000 a week less than what he could have earned at the Etihad.
Maguire put pen-to-paper on a six-year deal at Old Trafford that will see him take home £190 000 a week – a move that saw him usurp Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk as the world’s most expensive defender.
It was no doubt a huge blow to Pep Guardiola and City, who had previously suggested that they were not willing to meet Leicester’s valuation.
And following City’s Community Shield victory over Liverpool this month, Guardiola admitted they wanted to sign Maguire but apparently could not afford him.
“He’s an excellent, top-class player,” said the Spanish coach. “We were interested but could not afford it.” Maguire, meanwhile, has wasted no time settling in at United and produced a man-of-the-match display on his debut as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side thrashed Chelsea 4-0 last Sunday.
“He was solid like a rock,” Mourinho, who has managed both sides, said in his role as a television analyst for Sky Sports.
‘‘You can be very dangerous in attack but if you feel that a mistake is around the corner it takes your confidence away and you don’t play as well. When you feel there is something that allows you to play you are much more confident.
“As I always said Lindelof can be a very good player. With Maguire it can be a very good partnership.” – The Mirror.
Online Reporter