Maguire to Man United: from League One to £80m defender

Harry Maguire has capped his stunning rise by joining Manchester United in a deal reportedly worth £80million on Monday.

The fee makes Maguire the most expensive defender in football history, eclipsing the reported £75m Virgil van Dijk cost Liverpool from Southampton. Considering Maguire was playing League One football with Sheffield United in 2014, it has been a remarkable few years for the Yorkshireman. Maguire is also now established in the England team as the first-choice partner at the back for Manchester City defender John Stones.

Here, we chart his progress from third-tier centre-back to the world's priciest defender.

Hometown hero with the Blades

Maguire broke into the Sheffield United team at the end of the 2010-2011 season, making five appearances as the Blades were relegated from the Championship.

A year later Maguire was included in the Professional Footballers' Association's League One Team of the Year and clubs began to sniff around the teenager. Wolves were linked with a move for Maguire but he instead switched to Hull City for £2.5m, joining the club at the same time as Andrew Robertson arrived from Dundee United for a similar fee. Maguire has continued to show support for his hometown club on social media.

 

April 28, 2019

Relegation and promotion at Hull

The Tigers had been promoted to the Premier League when Maguire joined, but he struggled to break into the backline and was sent on loan to Championship side Wigan Athletic, where he made 16 appearances - the team conceding only 22 goals when he played.

Hull bounced back with an immediate promotion. Maguire featured 24 times but was named on the bench for their play-off final defeat of Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley, before continuing to nail down his place in the following top-flight campaign. Although Hull were relegated again, the Tigers keeping just four clean sheets in Maguire's 29 appearances, he impressed enough - being named the club's Player of the Year - to earn the second transfer of his career.

Leicester grab a £17m bargain

It was Leicester up next for Maguire after they reportedly paid £12m up front for the defender in a deal that included a further £5m in add-ons. He was ever-present in his first Foxes campaign, helping Leicester to keep nine clean sheets. During November of the 2016-17 season, he won his first England caps, starting for Gareth Southgate's side in goalless draws against Brazil and Germany to stake his claim for World Cup selection at Russia 2018.

Fine displays from Maguire earned him Leicester's 2017-18 Player of the Season and Players' Player of the Season awards and United were then linked with a big-money move.

World Cup heroics and meme star

Southgate took Maguire to Russia and made him a starter for the Three Lions, with the defender appearing in all seven of England's matches at the World Cup.

Maguire went viral on social media when a photograph of him with girlfriend Fern Hawkins was turned into a meme, while he scored in England's defeat of Sweden in the quarter-finals.

 

July 8, 2018

But there was disappointment for Maguire and his international team-mates as Croatia proved too strong after extra time in the last four.

Most expensive defender in the world

Leicester were able to rebuff strong interest in Maguire from United and he continued to improve in the 2018-19 campaign, winning 78.1 per cent of his aerial battles - the most in the Premier League - to further establish a reputation as a dominant defender in the air.

Despite his massive size, Maguire is also strong on the floor. His 16 dribbles completed was the most in the Premier League among centre-backs, although making four errors that led to shots indicated he is not yet the finished package. Regardless, with Van Dijk's record fee pushing the asking price for high-class defenders up, United elected to make Maguire the most expensive English player after rivals Manchester City pulled out of the race.

Now it is up to the 26-year-old to prove he deserves that massive £80m price tag.