Cannavaro praises England defensive pair for playing with ‘no fear’

Jason Soutar
Fabio Cannavaro during a press conference

World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro has heaped praise on England pair John Stones and Harry Maguire for playing with ‘no fear’.

Maguire has faced lots of criticism in recent weeks for his form for Manchester United, and was labelled “embarrassing” by Roy Keane after his goal celebration against Albania.

The United captain slid on his knees and cupped his hands behind his ears in a combative celebration to his goal in last week’s World Cup qualifier.


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Maguire’s celebration was interpreted as hitting out at his critics from Man Utd’s poor form that has put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job on the line with the Red Devils slipping to sixth in the Premier League table.

However, Italy legend Cannavaro is high in praise of the 28-year-old, as well as Manchester City centre-back John Stones.

“Stones and Maguire have shown interesting things in recent years,” he told The Sun.

“They can both play football, defend and fear no one. They are good individually and with the rest of the backline.

“They are points of reference for Manchester City and Man United — and undoubtedly the two best English defenders.”

Cannavaro adds that Maguire and Stones could benefit from adding a “nasty streak” to their game, like his compatriot Giorgio Chiellini.

He said: “When the going gets tough, they take responsibility and are not afraid of trying new things.

“But Chiellini still embodies the spirit of the Italian defender and that level of concentration needed to stop a striker in a difficult moment.

“Maguire and Stones play a totally different type of football and may lack a nasty streak at times. Which Giorgio has.”

The 48-year-old also justified Maguire’s controversial £80million price tag that United paid to sign the defender from Leicester in 2018.

“Good players like Maguire will always be worth a lot and we should not be astonished when top clubs invest that amount on talented players,” he added.

“In Italy, we say that great strikers sell tickets but great defenders win matches.

“Players nowadays rightly cost and earn more money than before because of the finances around the game — and players are the main actors.”