Arsenal: Can we stop talking about Harry Maguire, please?
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal could have/should have/would have had Harry Maguire, and for the love of everything can we just stop talking about this headache?
Arsenal‘s list of ‘could’ves’ is extensive and it is something to hide one’s face about. Every player who has ever amounted to anything could have, at one time or another, been a Gunner, and Arsene Wenger was always so willing to talk about it.
The latest is Harry Maguire. Martin Keown has admitted that he was sent on a scouting mission to check out Maguire and reported back that he was a decent player, but big.
Naturally, this was the hang-up. He was judged too immobile, despite the fact that this would have had to be about the time when Arsenal either had, or were soon going to have the chief of the immobile – Per Mertesacker.
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Watching Harry Maguire do all the things I wish our defenders could do has suddenly become like a festering wound, hearing that he could have signed with the Gunners whenever Keown recommended him.
Now, he is recommending him again. Which is nice. It’s cute. We’d all love to have him because he’s everything we could want in a defender. Literally, tell me something you want in a defender and I’ll tell you how Maguire accomplishes that need.
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But the die has been cast. We have a full complement of defenders with a brand new one – Sokratis – already on the books. Unless we are planning some major sales (which, if it’s for Harry Maguire, let’s do it), then the likelihood of this happening years later is not exactly the best. No matter how much fans “urge” Unai Emery to make it happen.
Maguire’s value is skyrocketing since his World Cup performances, as if he needed any help. He was already in an excellent place given his exploits at Leicester.
We would all love to have Maguire. He’s aggressive, dominant, and aerial menace and he is the antithesis of weak. I would take him over any current Arsenal defender.
But it feels impossible. We already have so many options on the books, none of which figure to be too ready to leave. And, honestly, they shouldn’t be.
All we (or I, at least) can do now is hope that Calum Chambers can become the next, shorter version of Harry Maguire. Which is totally realistic, and Chambers has a two year grace period to be the next, improved version of him.
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Please. Please let that be what happens.