Thread by @utdarena

THREAD:

With rumours of a £80m deal to bring him to Manchester United, Harry Maguire is the next player up in this series of statistical, comparative insights. I hope you enjoy.

As always, retweets and likes are appreciated!

Due to Victor Lindelöf being Manchester United's best defender last season – all things considered – I will be comparing Harry Maguire to him in a bid to establish just how good Maguire is in comparison.

This thread will consist of three parts:

1. Overview
2. Defensive prowess
3. Ability on the ball

Thereafter, I will summarise by views and end with a conclusion.

Lastly, any Premier League rankings will be done with a sample of 43 centre backs who played 2,000 or more minutes in the Premier League last season.

Let's begin.

An Overview:

Harry Maguire stands at 6"4 (194cm) and weighs around 95-97kg. The obvious benefit is that he is physically imposing and his numbers back this up as will be seen. However, a negative is that he often lacks acceleration and, thus, depends on his positioning often.

Defensive Prowess:

In 2018-19, Maguire completed 7.86 successful defensive actions per 90 whilst Lindelöf only completed 6.57 per 90. In addition, Maguire faced 12% of shots down his side whilst Lindelöf faced 13% of shots down his. Nevertheless, Maguire's output was higher.

Furthermore, Maguire boasted a 50.38% defensive duel success rate whilst Lindelöf only won 35.42%. This ranked Maguire in the 84th percentile whilst Lindelöf was only in the 59th percentile. As such, he is considerably better in a defensive duel.

Despite this, the highest in the Premier League for centre backs with more than 2,000 minutes was Sánchez of Tottenham with 59.63%. This highlights that Maguire, whilst 12th in the PL, still has a bit of work to do in this regard.

Maguire's aerial duel success rate was 67.79% which ranked him as the BEST aerial defender in the Premier League in terms of duels alone. Manchester United conceded a high amount of goals from set pieces and, thus, Maguire's aerial prowess will aid them incredibly.

Maguire's boasted an 83.78% success rate from tackles however, similar to van Dijk of Liverpool, he did not engage in many tackles. Rather, he utilised defensive IQ to position himself correctly. Lindelöf's tackle success rate was a flat 80.00%.

Likewise, Maguire intercepted the ball 7.94 times per Opp–30. Meanwhile, Lindelöf completed 6.74 interceptions per Opp–30. This highlights Maguire's willingness to move into passing lanes to intercept passes which he did at a good rate last season.

Moreover, both Maguire and Lindelöf boasted similar rates of blocked shots with 0.45 per 90 and 0.42 per 90 respectively. Both players scored low on this rating mostly due to not needing to block the ball rather than needing to but failing.

A last positive is that Maguire recovered the ball 12.33 times per 90 whilst Lindelöf recovered it 11.19 times per 90. Interestingly, whilst 12.3% of Lindelöf's recoveries were in the opposition half, 18.1% of Maguire's were. This highlights a more proactive mindset in Maguire.

Maguire fouled 0.68 times per 90 compared with Lindelöf's 0.64. Also, he received more cards than Lindelöf, too. Thus, this element of his game can be developed though it is not too extreme to warrant a direct criticism.

Ability on the Ball:

Maguire averaged 52.91 pass attempts per 90 compared with Lindelöf's 45.00 flat. His passing accuracy was 88.87% compared with Lindelöf's 91.60%.

39.77% of Maguire's passes were forward. Lindelöf's were near equal at 39.47%.

Not much difference.

The big difference between Maguire's and Lindelöf's passing is that Maguire played riskier passes. Maguire's average passing length was 22.45m compared with 19.88m for Lindelöf.

For players with 7 or less long passes per 90, Maguire's passing length ranked him 5th in the PL.

Also, Maguire attempted 6.57 long passes at a success rate of 68.97% whereas Lindelöf only attempted 3.40 at a success rate of 50.00% flat. This shows Maguire is far superior in his long passing. With the likes of Rashford and James, Maguire will enjoy this further at United.

In terms of line-breaking passes, Maguire averaged 9.71 per 90 whilst Lindelöf only averaged 7.40. Again, Maguire is the superior passer when all things are considered. This is also seen in his tempo changing passes which ranked him 3rd in the PL last season with 0.42 per 90.

Lindelöf ranked 13th in this regard with only 0.16 per 90. This portrays Maguire, correctly, as a proactive passer of the ball and someone willing to take risks to change the game state. Yet, he does so with a good success rate which is extremely beneficial to any team.

Also, Maguire averaged 8.09 passes into the final ⅓ per 90 ranking him 9th in the PL just behind van Dijk with 8.35. However, Maguire ranked 6th in accuracy with 77.60%. Meanwhile, Lindelöf ranked 33rd in the PL in this category.

In terms of running with the ball and 10-Yard Advancements, Maguire ranked 2nd in the PL with an output of 2.46. Laporte was 1st with 3.01. On the other hand, Lindelöf ranked 13th with 0.90.

To Summarise:

Is Harry Maguire a world class centre back? No. Is he an excellent centre back? Yes and he has some world class attributes. However, he does have some attributes which could be exploited such as his lack of recovery as well as below average acceleration.

To Summarise II:

Despite this, purchasing him would immediately make him Manchester United's best defender and with his prowess on the ball and the manner Solskjær wishes to play it can prove to be an excellent signing.

Conclusion:

A fee of £80m (£60m + £20m add-ons) is steep. However, there are multiple reasons as to why this is the case and they are more circumstantial than anything else. Also, if United can buy a midfielder with the remaining budget Maguire's fee will be largely irrelevant.

Conclusion II:

Solskjær recognised that he needed defensive reinforcements and has spent £110m (potentially £130m) on a top 10 centre back in the Premier League (arguably top 6-7) and one of the best right backs in the world.

As such, it will be an excellent signing.

THREAD END.

RT's and Likes appreciated!

The graphic of Maguire was by @ManUnitedZone_. Give him a follow whilst you're there!